AprilF00lzDownsides of Signal alternatives compared to Signal?
EugeniaI’m using Matrix/element. I rather not give my phone number, you see, which is must-have for Signal. I have installed the app in my family’s phones, and they were accepting, so all is well. I don’t need to communicate through private messaging with anybody else, so who cares if others don’t use matrix?
Yeah, about that.
www.signal.org/…/phone-number-privacy-usernames/
Keep your phone number private with Signal usernames
Signal’s mission and sole focus is private communication. For years, Signal has kept your messages private, your profile information (like your name and profile photo) private, your contacts private, and your groups private – among much else. Now we’re taking that one step further, by making your...
That’s my point. The phone number IS STILL required to create an account at Signal!
You can always run a self-hosted version of Signal or a fork of it, then you can do whatever you want with it, including not using phone numbers.
I’m not interested in running servers, in fact, my ISP doesn’t allow it anyway. I need something private that doesn’t ask for too much info off of me, and that’s why my solution was matrix, and not signal.
most people don’t run servers from their house, but something like a cheap VPS or similar.
Wait, what?! You can self-host Signal? Please send me a guide!