Todd Warner
2015-12-14 21:56:36 UTC
The desktop chrome app should manage non-Signal SMS/MMS communication as
well.
There are 1001 texting applications out there for the phone and for the
desktop. Folks use one or more of these various applications but always an
SMS application as well. Why is SMS always in the mix? Because it is a
ubiquitous protocol. If you send someone an SMS message... they'll very
likely get it. That has a lot of power.
But SMS/MMS has one disadvantage: Very few applications can send and
receive SMS over the desktop. And hence... the proliferation of other chat
protocols.
But there are some exceptions...
iMessage has a desktop application that can apparently chat over SMS and
MMS as well as whatever proprietary protocol iMessage is.
Google Hangouts, if you have a google voice number, can send and receive
SMS/MMS via desktop and mobile.
What about Signal? For both mobile and the desktop?
Signal, now, has a wonderful mobile application that can send and receive
secure chat (signal's protocol) but also SMS/MMS (insecure chat). On the
desktop, the experience is more limited. Signal for the desktop can send
and receive ONLY secure chat.
In order to send and receive SMS on both mobile and the desktop, I have to
drop Signal as the default SMS application and use Google Hangouts as the
default SMS application on both desktop and mobile. I'd prefer to use
Signal for both mobile and desktop.
...So, the request...
The goal should be to have the Signal Desktop application send to both
Signal and non-Signal users. This would remove a barrier to user adoption
and increase the use of Signal as the primary chat application for that
user.
I am not sure how Signal on the Desktop works currently, but it could work
a number of ways to add SMS/MMS. Here's two:
1. It could just aggregate all Signal *and* non-Signal messages just by
working as a front end to the phone (downside -- that's a lot of
communication between desktop and phone via some intermediary)
2. Desktop leverages the phone as an SMS/MMS engine and communicates more
directly only if it is a secure message.
well.
There are 1001 texting applications out there for the phone and for the
desktop. Folks use one or more of these various applications but always an
SMS application as well. Why is SMS always in the mix? Because it is a
ubiquitous protocol. If you send someone an SMS message... they'll very
likely get it. That has a lot of power.
But SMS/MMS has one disadvantage: Very few applications can send and
receive SMS over the desktop. And hence... the proliferation of other chat
protocols.
But there are some exceptions...
iMessage has a desktop application that can apparently chat over SMS and
MMS as well as whatever proprietary protocol iMessage is.
Google Hangouts, if you have a google voice number, can send and receive
SMS/MMS via desktop and mobile.
What about Signal? For both mobile and the desktop?
Signal, now, has a wonderful mobile application that can send and receive
secure chat (signal's protocol) but also SMS/MMS (insecure chat). On the
desktop, the experience is more limited. Signal for the desktop can send
and receive ONLY secure chat.
In order to send and receive SMS on both mobile and the desktop, I have to
drop Signal as the default SMS application and use Google Hangouts as the
default SMS application on both desktop and mobile. I'd prefer to use
Signal for both mobile and desktop.
...So, the request...
The goal should be to have the Signal Desktop application send to both
Signal and non-Signal users. This would remove a barrier to user adoption
and increase the use of Signal as the primary chat application for that
user.
I am not sure how Signal on the Desktop works currently, but it could work
a number of ways to add SMS/MMS. Here's two:
1. It could just aggregate all Signal *and* non-Signal messages just by
working as a front end to the phone (downside -- that's a lot of
communication between desktop and phone via some intermediary)
2. Desktop leverages the phone as an SMS/MMS engine and communicates more
directly only if it is a secure message.