i've just seen a comment in a post, in this very community, saying people trust signal because of missinformation (from what i could undertand).
if this is true, then i have a few questions:
-what menssaging app should i use for secure communications? i need an app that balances simplicity and security.
-how to explain it to my friends who use signal because i recomended?
-what this means for other apps in general?
https://dessalines.github.io/essays/why_not_signal.html
Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Signal is easy to use, and that is what really protects millions of people. Otherwise, they would never use a complex or decentralized alternative.
Something being easy to use has nothing to do with privacy or security. Apple, just like signal, also sold it's products as secure, yet they also were forwarding all communications to the US government as part of the prism program.
Signal is not a stepping stone, it's a honey pot. Best to avoid US services that require your identity entirely.
The difference between Apple and Signal is that Signal is open source, making the code available for anyone to audit and verify uts claims.
You have no idea what code their server is running, and its impossible to host your own signal since its a centralized service.
They went a whole year without publishing server code updates also, until they got a lot of backlash for it. Still, even publishing those is moot since its a centralized service.
I checkedout the SimpleX website and the webdesign looks like "crypto rugpull"
Not to mention the owner of simplex is a horrible person.
i agree with everything you said about signal, but i'm uncomfortable with a lot of the alternatives. a cryptographer i sorta follow has written about a couple of these: xmpp, matrix three or four times (linked in the introduction to the post), others
Look at Delta chat.