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I’ve used Signal across many devices for years with zero problems.

princevegeta89
Signal seems to work alright for me, although I felt the desktop app gets a bit annoying because of too many frequent updates happening to the app, which I believe is based on Electron.

But besides this, there is really a strong need for a web client, just like Telegram or WhatsApp. If only the protocol can be extended in such a way that it allows for integrating into a web app, that would be incredibly great.

shmel
Which is pretty odd as WhatsApp allegedly uses the very same E2E encryption and has no problem implementing a web client. I really don't see the point of Electron if it doesn't allow you to provide a web client.
fn-mote
> Which is pretty odd

I have always assumed no Signal web client was a choice made to improve security.

teekert
It’s easier to make cross platform?
bjoli
I have been particularly impressed with the device migration experience. I have an 18gb db, and even the time my device died I managed to get things over correctly.
gojomo
If the device with an 18GB message history was truly 'dead', how did you transfer the history over?
codedokode
Why do you need a message history? The only use I can think of, if someone uses it against you in court. I don't remember looking up anything in history.
gojomo
I look up old iMessages, emails, group chat comments, and so forth constantly, often finding valuable gems of wit, reference-material, recommendations, or media that I dimly remember from years or even decades ago.

Signal and other messaging apps offer a 'search' bar across all sessions & history, so I doubt I'm the only one.

It's hard for me to imagine being so present-focused such a history wouldn't be personally useful.

Or, so worried about "someone [using] it against [me] in court" that I'd need more than the occasional auto-expiration, and specifically my messenger "protecting" me with intermittently-enforced loss-of-histories (on just theft/loss/hard-failure of primary device).

bjoli
Because of family phonos shared between me an my siblings, and between me and my wife.

All our communication is over signal, so it is a nice record to have.

gojomo
"I've been lucky not to have devices lost/stolen/bricked. Why can't other people just be lucky like me?"
e40 OP
The comment I replied to was providing annecdata about a bad experience. I was doing the opposite, to balance.

Your portrayal of my comment is not even close.

gojomo
Anecdotes of occasional problems, even at a low or unquantified rate, are valid & useful evidence that something negative is happening.

Anecdotes that sometimes those problems don't occur are nearly worthless. Of course that's true - the original anecdotal complaint already implicitly relies on, & grants, the idea that there's some default, "hoped for" ideal from which their experience has fallen short.

To chime in, "never had your problems" thus adds no info. Yes, people lucky enough not to hit those Signal limits that cause others to lose data exist, of course. But how does that testimony help those with problems? Should their frustration be considered less important or credible, because of your luck?

The as-if portrayal is one way your anecdote will be perceived, even if that wasn't your intent.

Krasnol
I've been using it since it was called TextSecure.

I had no issues at all since it's called Signal. I have no idea what people do with it to cause problems at all.

It would still be interesting to find out.

I've been on Android only btw.

shmel
I really hate that the desktop app unlinks after a relatively short period of time. I rarely use Signal, so few of my friends are there, so I have to relink the desktop app almost every time I open it. I wouldn't mind scanning a qr code every now and then, but then the history refuses to sync because security. So far I haven't find how to change it.

The Android app is stable enough, but the UX of having to look at the phone while typing a reply on a normal keyboard is annoying. This is why I prefer Telegram every time.

wccrawford
I've got Signal on 2 computers, 1 of which I only run it occasionally. I've never had to reconnect it.

I'm not sure what's going on for you, but it seems really abnormal.

It automatically unlinks the desktop app if you don't open it for 30 days.

There is now at least a reminder on the phone app that will prompt you a few days before one of your desktop apps is about to get unlinked.

Krasnol
I wouldn't call 30 days "a short period of time"...If I hadn't used it for 30days, I'd uninstall it.

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