Since we are on the topic of signal.. im not tech saviie but i have read lots of blogs and people about how secure is the signal protocol. My question is .. how can i be sure that the protocol is implemented as the open source code shows? Please correct me if im wrong but from what i read on their website the apk they provide has the capability to update itself at anytime. So what stops them to change how it works with an update? is it posible to build the apk yourself and stop the ability to update?

https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/issues/8974

Right now, for the wider population, it it a heaven sent option compared to Whatsapp, FB messenger etc. Break those bonds first and keep the wheel turning.

With the phone number, no; and since there's no Signal usage without a phone number, well…. Also, I think somewhere on their website (or some place) they talked about burner phones as if it's a universal phenomena.

Signal has felt "out of place" to me. Odd. It doesn't fit in, doesn't make sense if I think a bit farther about it.

I hope something decentralised comes out of Signal protocol minus the need for a phone number.

Imo signal protocol is mostly fairly robust, signal service itself is about the best middle ground available to get the general public off bigtech slop.

It compares favorably against whatsapp while providing comparable UX/onboarding/rendevous, which is pretty essential to get your non-tech friends/family out of meta's evil clutches.

Just the sheer number of people signal's helped to protect from eg. meta, you gotta give praise for that.

It is lacking in core features which would bring it to the next level of privacy, anonymity and safety. But it's not exactly trivial to provide ALL of the above in one package while retaining accessibility to the general public.

Personally, I'd be happier if signal began to offer these additional features as options, maybe behind a consent checkbox like "yes i know what i'm doing (if someone asked you to enable this mode & you're only doing it because they told you to, STOP NOW -> ok -> NO REALLY, STOP NOW IF YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO ENABLE THIS BY ANYONE -> ok -> alright, here ya go...)".

Secure and private or anonymous are very different things and nearly impossible to do both at the same time and still make it user friendly. Signal is secure, not fully private or anonymous.

No, and they are supported by US gov (last check), so no good can come of that.

Signal has a backdoor - like many other apps. It's private in most situations but not for all... The backdoor is there, and as such, it will never be as secure and private as it could, or should, be...