Can you run Signal with basically no iOS or Android devices right now and still do the (mandatory) prove-your-phone-id steps?

[seirdy@pleroma.envs.net]

@cwebber@social.coop and molly-im on Android is Signal patched to support running as a linked device, among other things.

[qbit@mammothcirc.us]

@cwebber for sure you can run Molly in Waydroid (as a linked device). I have been meening to try Signal proper.. but haven't had time.

[khm@hj.9fs.net]

I've been able to do this by downloading the Android SDK and launching a VM 'phone' to install signal, then linking it to the desktop app by pointing the computer's webcam at its own screen. Every so often I have to launch the VM and run the app or the desktop client whines and stops working. It sucks pretty bad. Being tied to phones is the dumbest part of Signal.

[trwnh@mastodon.social]

@cwebber the prove-your-phone-id and ios/android requirement is precisely why i don't use signal

i really hate how certain parts of society require a phone number at all. i have a google voice number from like 17 or 18 years ago at this point that i got before i even had a phone. i would prefer not to use it, but unfortunately my medical provider requires sms 2fa and only supports sms 2fa. banks are also notorious for this.

[yuvalne@433.world]

@Seirdy @cwebber signal-cli does indeed advertise supporting registration.
https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli

also i do want to ask, don't most Mobile Linux projects support running android apps in one way or another? it should be possible then (if not easy, though maybe there's some reservations i'm not aware of) to run the mobile version of Signal on a Linux phone.

[vv@solarpunk.moe]

@Canageek @cwebber I think the issue is when these phones break and there are no new android phones that can be used due to hardware lockdown

[canageek@wandering.shop]

@vv @cwebber Ohhhh, that makes sense, thank you

[mrcopilot@mstdn.social]

@trwnh @cwebber Same, every couple of years I have a fight with Blizzard or some similar corp who claims they cannot send sms to a voip number and that i should just borrow a landline. "Just to be clear here, TO COMPLETE YOUR SECURITY CHECK YOU ARE SUGGESTING I BORROW SOMEONE ELSE'S PHONE."

[flaki@flaki.social]

@cwebber not that it would be anywhere near a normienormie-friendly solution (or the prove-your-phone issue wouldn't be an actual issue unless there were explicit Signal upstream support) but this made me wonder what happened to Bunnie's Precursor and... apparently it just quietly died two years ago?
https://www.crowdsupply.com/sutajio-kosagi/precursor

[faoluin@chitter.xyz]

@cwebber Google isn't going to listen to petitions for "Keep Android Open", and we're trending towards a world where your device has to be locked down and untampered with before you can access any services or communication networks. Oh and it'll be your form of ID too, so no more anonymity on the internet.

At that point even good functioning Linux phones will not save us.

[draken@masto.nyc]

@cwebber
The only thing stopping me from using the FLX1s by @furilabs as a daily driver is that it doesn't support US data bands.

[jfred@jawns.club]

@cwebber Here's Signal Android running on that Linux phone I got at FOSDEM (FuriPhone FLX1s) and signed in with my usual phone number

I wasn't able to get local message transfer working from another one of my devices (their cloud backup would probably work?) but the sign-in at least worked okay

[jfred@jawns.club]

@draken @cwebber @furilabs For what it's worth I'm using one on Mint Mobile in the Northeastern US and it seems to work fine

[freakazoid@retro.social]

@cwebber I'm hoping VeilidChat is ready to use with my family by the time I stop being able to use my Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS.

[csepp@merveilles.town]

@cwebber You need a number that can receive an SMS. You can use signal-cli as your "primary" device. It's a bit cumbersome, you need to take a screenshot of a QR code that keeps changing (or patch Signal Desktop to show an URL?) and feed that into signal-cli, but it works.

[timorl@social.wuatek.is]

@Seirdy@pleroma.envs.net I managed to do it like a week ago, even "re-registering" a phone number, which is likely harder than the initial registration. I used this gist as a guide. And since I'm mentioning it, thanks @domi@donotsta.re for pointing me that way. <img class="not-responsive emoji" src="https://social.wuatek.is/emoji/blobfox/blobfoxheart.png" title=":blobfoxheart:" /> @cwebber@social.coop

[draken@masto.nyc]

@jfred @cwebber @furilabs
I'm in the NYC area on T-Mobile, on whose network, which is Mint's parent company. Can you send a screenshot of your data settings?

[georgweissenbacher@fediscience.org]

@cwebber yes (https://github.com/AsamK/signal-cli ) - but I haven’t tried. This can be combined with SignalUT (https://github.com/pparent76/SignalUT) - which I am using.

Another alternative is to set up a Matrix bridge and use the CinnyUT client, which provides a better experience.

The experience with Linux phones isn’t that bad (a bit rough around the edges), but security is an issue (at least for the OSs based on old Android kernels, like Ubuntu Touch).

[gert@social.coop]

@cwebber We've also noticed that if AWS goes down, Signal does too.

[jfred@jawns.club]

@draken @cwebber @furilabs Sure, attached. This did take a bit of experimentation as Mint's default APN didn't work well for me, but I've had that problem on Android too (and searching online I found a lot of people recommending using t-mobile's APN settings instead)