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0 pointsghusto11mo ago0 comments

In the Netherlands, was trying to promote Signal.

I switched phones and lost all my history. Now I’m fairly careful with these things, and make backups, but even I wasn’t able to get it back. Couldn’t recommend it to anyone since.

There’s a line between being secure and being useful, and they’re slightly unbalanced in Signal.

0 comments

jeroenhd11mo ago

Had the same happen with WhatsApp. Turns out you get one chance to get the local file backup right or you're screwed.

account-511mo ago

Just out of interest, why are you keeping your chat history? What for? All my chats are set to burn after 6 months as standard but most are shorter than this.

ajkjk11mo ago

just curious.. why you are deleting your chats? what if you want to search them for something from a while ago?

account-511mo ago

I can't think of anything beyond a month is need to search for. And I'm definitely not interested in having it just in case. If it's important I'll write it down.

I'm also not a social media user.

How many people have been caught out over shit they've said decades ago that is now not fashionable to say?

What parts of your old chat histories can get you in trouble if the police got hold of your phone?

1 more reply

mrehler11mo ago

I personally keep it all (on iMessage) as a bit of personal history. Trying to see conversations I had with friends and family around fun/important events, searching to see if I ever went on a similar tirade about a product I’m about to send a friend…

fsflover11mo ago

If you, after 20 years, can process all your chat history with a (locally run!) AI, you may find a lot of interesting things about yourself and your friends.

fwn11mo ago

It is much more likely that someone else will process all my chat history at a border checkpoint or somewhere similar and find out a lot of interesting things about me and my friends.

1 more reply

AlecSchueler11mo ago

So might anyone else, which is very worrying with the new rise of facism.

1 more reply

account-511mo ago

But why? Genuine question, What's the point? It's not going to improve anything.

1 more reply

rhubarbtree11mo ago

Yep, this is why Signal hasn’t gained great traction I think. It’s just not intuitive (and I don’t understand why it’s necessary). You could always have this level of security as an option for journalists etc without ruining the UX of all users.

Funes-11mo ago

You should've made sure of how Signal works with regards to chat history before you removed the app from the old phone.

egypturnash11mo ago

"the iphone 4's antenna isn't a bad design, you're just holding it wrong" - steve jobs

jobigoud11mo ago

To be fair Whatsapp works the same, if you are not careful when changing phone you will lose your history. That's because they don't actually store your messages on their servers, they are just synchronized between devices.

ghustoOP11mo ago

That's not the case though, at least for me? I had set Whatsapp to backup to Google Drive, and when I switched to an iPhone it did some automagix and all my stuff was there (and then backed up to iCloud!).

Funes-11mo ago

"{straw man}" - most HN users.

nsagent11mo ago

I have Signal on my phone and laptop. For some reason my laptop desynced from the phone, so my chat history now has a missing block of message history (that exists on the phone). I did nothing obvious to cause that desync. My guess is that my phone updated the Signal app, and I didn't update it on the laptop in lockstep. That's not a great UX, especially since there is no notification that this might happen.

tomsmeding11mo ago

Desync happens simply after a month of not using the PC client. Yes, it's that short.

nsagent11mo ago

Oh wow. Good to know! Thanks for the heads up.

vinay42711mo ago

Message history still can’t be backed up on iOS, and also can’t be moved between Android and iOS in either direction AFAIK. There are far more gaps here than just imperfect users, which is often a UX problem as others have noted.

philipwhiuk11mo ago

How does it handle phone theft?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

jeroenhd11mo ago

Had the same happen with WhatsApp. Turns out you get one chance to get the local file backup right or you're screwed.

account-511mo ago

Just out of interest, why are you keeping your chat history? What for? All my chats are set to burn after 6 months as standard but most are shorter than this.

ajkjk11mo ago

just curious.. why you are deleting your chats? what if you want to search them for something from a while ago?

account-511mo ago

I can't think of anything beyond a month is need to search for. And I'm definitely not interested in having it just in case. If it's important I'll write it down.

I'm also not a social media user.

How many people have been caught out over shit they've said decades ago that is now not fashionable to say?

What parts of your old chat histories can get you in trouble if the police got hold of your phone?

1 more reply

mrehler11mo ago

fsflover11mo ago

If you, after 20 years, can process all your chat history with a (locally run!) AI, you may find a lot of interesting things about yourself and your friends.

fwn11mo ago

It is much more likely that someone else will process all my chat history at a border checkpoint or somewhere similar and find out a lot of interesting things about me and my friends.

1 more reply

AlecSchueler11mo ago

So might anyone else, which is very worrying with the new rise of facism.

1 more reply

account-511mo ago

But why? Genuine question, What's the point? It's not going to improve anything.

1 more reply

rhubarbtree11mo ago

Funes-11mo ago

You should've made sure of how Signal works with regards to chat history before you removed the app from the old phone.

egypturnash11mo ago

"the iphone 4's antenna isn't a bad design, you're just holding it wrong" - steve jobs

jobigoud11mo ago

ghustoOP11mo ago

Funes-11mo ago

"{straw man}" - most HN users.

nsagent11mo ago

tomsmeding11mo ago

Desync happens simply after a month of not using the PC client. Yes, it's that short.

nsagent11mo ago

Oh wow. Good to know! Thanks for the heads up.

vinay42711mo ago

philipwhiuk11mo ago

How does it handle phone theft?

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse