Signal is working on registration without a phone number. But what form will it take?
aboutsignal.com
Signal is working on a way to sign up without a phone number. The feature has not yet been officially confirmed, and it is not yet known whether it will be available to all users or in what form.
  • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.netEnglish
    4 days

    I guess if they optionally required some crypto payment instead of phone number it would made some people happy. Will be interesting to see where does this go.

  • Free Trampoline!?@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    4 days

    We had an encrypted chat for a bit before I realized it was completely pointless with literally everyone in it but one or two having entirely stock phones with in-built Ai and tracking mechanisms. We used XMPP.

    Since it was for a Jellyfin server, it basically meant anyone on an unmodified Google or Apple phone was basically a door to a seach of that data from either company for the text logged into each chatroom by each user, and displayed. Unless everyone is secure, no one is.

  • ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4 days

    If this will allow me to find contacts in Signal that would be great. The biggest roadblock to getting people to move from WhatsApp to Signal has been not being able to find them via phone number. It seems to affect about 1 in 7 users.

    • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafeEnglish
      4 days

      This has literally zero correlation with whether you can search your contacts by phone number, it is in fact the exact opposite

      This is creating a signal account that has no phone number associated with it.

      From the article:

      “The ability to register for Signal without a phone number is a frequently requested feature. While Signal hides phone numbers by default and gives users control over who can discover them, some users would still like the option to create an account without using a phone number.”

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      4 days

      People dont WANT to you to find them by phone number. Its not a bug and its not happening randomly, people are just enabling the very good setting that prevents others from finding them by their phone number.

    • theherk@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4 days

      They added a username feature a long time ago that makes finding each other very reliable.

    • GMac@feddit.orgEnglish
      4 days

      Whether or not you can find someone based on their phone number is based on a user setting. Each person chooses whether or not they can be found by their phone number.
      Go to Settings - Privacy - Phone number.

      Really though, this is an excuse more than a roadblock.

      I find people oddly resistant to an additional message app, yet they gleefully download a new app at every carpark they visit. People are odd.