Good evening,
I’d like my group of high school friends to use Signal to chat, but one of them uses a push-button phone on a daily basis. Nevertheless, she has a computer at home, and with this computer she previously communicated in the Instagram group. Hence my question: since she has a push-button phone capable of receiving SMS, can she use Signal with the desktop application for PC ? Thanks a lot! :)
If her push button phone is android, maybe she can download it. But anyway, Signal can be used on desktop (Mac, Linux, Win) https://signal.org/download/
It’s an old phone with buttons (like a Nokia), which is only capable to send/receive SMS, and taking photos… So she can’t obvously install Signal on it. I personnaly use the Signal’s app for Linux on my PC by linking it with my Android phone, and I was wondering if it would be possible for her to create a Signal account by only using a computer. But, it seems to be impossible :/ However, thanks a lot for your answer :)
oh I got what you meant, that sucks :( Maybe try android emulator like the other commenters mentioned.
it’s awesome that she has those phones btw. I tried looking for one like that but no luck.
Anw, alternatively maybe y’all can try Matrix? It has E2EE I believe for chat rooms as well. Has multiple different phone + desktop apps. Most straightforward is Element/ElementX.
Another option also recommended by privacyguides besides signal is SimpleX Chat (never used it). Looks like there’s CLI for desktop if she’s comfortable with it.
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I’m not sure if it changed, but, on PC, Signal could only be used through the Signal desktop application. This application would only act as a bridge to another device (ie - the desktop app would connect to the phone app). If this is still true, then your friend could not use Signal on her PC without another device.
However, if she has an Android tablet or iPad, she may be able to setup Signal on the tablet and use the tablet as a bridge device with her PC. I’m not certain this is possible, but it may be worth looking into.
Their website says you need a phone with the iOS or Android app to link a desktop. There may be a workaround if you have an iPad or old android without the sim or something you can do with emulating the app on desktop.
If you’re looking for another encrypted messenger, telegram should let you create an account with just a phone number.
https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360008216551-Installing-Signal/
I’d personally recommend Element/Matrix over Telegram for secure/encrypted messaging.
Telegram doesn’t do end-to-end encryption for anything unless you opt into it, negating any claims about privacy as everything is accessible to any Telegram engineer with enough admin rights by default (or hacker/state actor who might breach the network). Additionally, Telegram’s end-to-end encrypted messaging is incredibly limited, almost by design to discourage it’s use 🤔, as it doesn’t work across multiple devices or even group messaging.
Lastly, Matrix/Element doesn’t require a phone number, just an email, and works across Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and the web. I’ll admit the UI isn’t as “nice/polished” as Signal/Telegram, but its 99% there, improving all the time and does a whole lot more while actually being private.
Thanks for your complete answer ! I’m aware of Telegram’s limitations, and that’s why Signal appears to be a compromise between a private messaging service and an application that can be used by the general public. While I personally don’t mind using tools like Matrix, my friends don’t necessarily have a computer culture, so I’m afraid of losing them a little 😅 But thank you very much for your help! :))
Hum… I don’t think she has an old Android smartphone or tablet which can make the thing, but I don’t want to use Telegram… not so private as Signal is (thanks @KLISHDFSDF@lemmy.ml) It seems that it will be impossible for her to create a Signal account. However, thanks for your answer :)
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