Signal is designed for and by a bunch of old men. It’s just not an app that makes being in it fun. Take the implementation of stories for example. Everyone else implemented them as a banner atop the message list, the Signal developers for example hid them away in a tab.
Adding new stickers in Telegram is as simple as open the sticker panel or select a sticker and get recommended stickers. In Signal I haven’t got a clue.
There’s no Material You implementation either.
No list of links.
No filename preservation for audio files.
It clearly serves a purpose and is good at that, but it doesn’t lend itself to being a good messenger for people that want more than privacy.
Why should a text messenger be fun? It’s a communication tool, not a game…
The stickers accessed via the sticker button left of the textbox. You can add stickers by going to https://signalstickers.org and click on add stickers. And you can add them some way if you receive a new one from a contact.
What is a list of links? Links you have sent/recieved previously?
Why should a text messenger be fun? It’s a communication tool, not a game…
Because I enjoy speaking to friends, family and lovers and shouldn’t be forced to not enjoy it to make a bunch of old men happy.
The stickers accessed via the sticker button left of the textbox. You can add stickers by going to https://signalstickers.org and click on add stickers. And you can add them some way if you receive a new one from a contact.
Why isn’t this in the UI? Rhetorical question, goes back to old men. Signal is designed by the same type of people that clamour for phones with no front facing camera.
What is a list of links? Links you have sent/recieved previously?
How do you make old people happy by messaging on signal? What makes a text based messenger “fun”?
I enjoy speaking with my friends on signal, because - you know - they are my friends.
My use case with stickers: when they were a new things, I saved like 3 packs, and I never felt the need to look for a new one.
About links: there are far better tools and services to store your bookmarks than a text messenger. Personally I use self hosted wallabag, but there are a lot others, and all web browsers has some bookmark feature, I don’t know why you want to store them in Signal.
The stickers are not in the app for privacy reason. This website is not run by the foundation, but by the community. Read more about how stickers work in the blog post: https://signal.org/blog/make-privacy-stick/
I think you have a preconception about what you want, maybe it’s discord, or I don’t know which service you think about as “ideal UX” or “for young people”. But if you start to think about that all that bells and whistles are actually just distractions. The only important thing in the long run will be communication, and Signal is good with that.
Whilst I can’t speak about the ages or genders of who it’s designed by, it’s probable that you’re at least somewhat correct. Compared to other actually secure apps I have to disagree but compared to all apps out there including ones that aren’t secure, I agree it probably isn’t as fun as them.
Yeah, the stories would be better up the top, as you say.
For stickers that are sent to you in Signal on Desktop and ipad OS at least, I can just click/press on a sticker and there’s a big Install button there, will test on Android in a bit, if you want to add new ones that haven’t been sent to you, I agree it’s a bit of a faff but you have to go here: https://signalstickers.org and you can install from there.
I do agree that not having to go to a separate website if a sticker hasn’t been sent to me and I haven’t got it installed already would be nice, I really think they are missing a major feature there.
I’m not sure why material you is important, would you mind explaining a bit more about that?
Yeah, a list of links would be very much helpful, most of the messengers I use are missing that and I wish they’d add that feature.
By “No filename preservation for audio files.” do you mean when you download it then it gets changed from its original name or something else?
Disagree to a degree at least compared to others on the recommended list, it at least has some features beyond just privacy. However, yeah, it could design them better and have more features that make the UX better.
Thank you for such a fair and balanced response. Amazing work.
I’m not sure why material you is important, would you mind explaining a bit more about that?
I enjoy homogenous design across my system. When I gave some of the FOSS alternate front ends to Telegram a try, it really taught me just how much it makes a difference. It’s such a tiny thing but it’s nice to have. It’s one of those things where it’s like the developer cared.
By “No filename preservation for audio files.” do you mean when you download it then it gets changed from its original name or something else?
So me and one of my friends send each other tracks all the time. In Signal they’re all listed as “Voice Message • Sent by XXXXX” it’s just not useful.
Oh that makes sense. I use Linux and it’s really frustrating trying to get all programs etc to all look or work in the same ways sometimes. Especially the small number of closed source ones I use like Steam.
Oh yeah, I completely agree and wish Signal wouldn’t do that. I’ve noticed it for images too, I’m pretty sure.
Sounds like the closest to what you want is Signal.
No material you, but in general the UX sucks.
Oh, that’s interesting, thanks for letting me know.
What about it sucks for you?
Signal is designed for and by a bunch of old men. It’s just not an app that makes being in it fun. Take the implementation of stories for example. Everyone else implemented them as a banner atop the message list, the Signal developers for example hid them away in a tab.
Adding new stickers in Telegram is as simple as open the sticker panel or select a sticker and get recommended stickers. In Signal I haven’t got a clue.
There’s no Material You implementation either.
No list of links.
No filename preservation for audio files.
It clearly serves a purpose and is good at that, but it doesn’t lend itself to being a good messenger for people that want more than privacy.
Why should a text messenger be fun? It’s a communication tool, not a game…
The stickers accessed via the sticker button left of the textbox. You can add stickers by going to https://signalstickers.org and click on add stickers. And you can add them some way if you receive a new one from a contact.
What is a list of links? Links you have sent/recieved previously?
Because I enjoy speaking to friends, family and lovers and shouldn’t be forced to not enjoy it to make a bunch of old men happy.
Why isn’t this in the UI? Rhetorical question, goes back to old men. Signal is designed by the same type of people that clamour for phones with no front facing camera.
Indeed.
How do you make old people happy by messaging on signal? What makes a text based messenger “fun”?
I enjoy speaking with my friends on signal, because - you know - they are my friends.
My use case with stickers: when they were a new things, I saved like 3 packs, and I never felt the need to look for a new one.
About links: there are far better tools and services to store your bookmarks than a text messenger. Personally I use self hosted wallabag, but there are a lot others, and all web browsers has some bookmark feature, I don’t know why you want to store them in Signal.
The stickers are not in the app for privacy reason. This website is not run by the foundation, but by the community. Read more about how stickers work in the blog post: https://signal.org/blog/make-privacy-stick/
I think you have a preconception about what you want, maybe it’s discord, or I don’t know which service you think about as “ideal UX” or “for young people”. But if you start to think about that all that bells and whistles are actually just distractions. The only important thing in the long run will be communication, and Signal is good with that.
Interesting bullet point for excluding an app.
Maaaaybe because it’s focus is privacy, not bells and whistles.
Which takes me back to my original post where I’m asking for bells and whistles before I was asked to justify why
Thank you for explaining.
Whilst I can’t speak about the ages or genders of who it’s designed by, it’s probable that you’re at least somewhat correct. Compared to other actually secure apps I have to disagree but compared to all apps out there including ones that aren’t secure, I agree it probably isn’t as fun as them.
Yeah, the stories would be better up the top, as you say.
For stickers that are sent to you in Signal on Desktop and ipad OS at least, I can just click/press on a sticker and there’s a big Install button there, will test on Android in a bit, if you want to add new ones that haven’t been sent to you, I agree it’s a bit of a faff but you have to go here: https://signalstickers.org and you can install from there.
I do agree that not having to go to a separate website if a sticker hasn’t been sent to me and I haven’t got it installed already would be nice, I really think they are missing a major feature there.
I’m not sure why material you is important, would you mind explaining a bit more about that?
Yeah, a list of links would be very much helpful, most of the messengers I use are missing that and I wish they’d add that feature.
By “No filename preservation for audio files.” do you mean when you download it then it gets changed from its original name or something else?
Disagree to a degree at least compared to others on the recommended list, it at least has some features beyond just privacy. However, yeah, it could design them better and have more features that make the UX better.
Thank you for such a fair and balanced response. Amazing work.
I enjoy homogenous design across my system. When I gave some of the FOSS alternate front ends to Telegram a try, it really taught me just how much it makes a difference. It’s such a tiny thing but it’s nice to have. It’s one of those things where it’s like the developer cared.
So me and one of my friends send each other tracks all the time. In Signal they’re all listed as “Voice Message • Sent by XXXXX” it’s just not useful.
Thank you 🙂
Oh that makes sense. I use Linux and it’s really frustrating trying to get all programs etc to all look or work in the same ways sometimes. Especially the small number of closed source ones I use like Steam.
Oh yeah, I completely agree and wish Signal wouldn’t do that. I’ve noticed it for images too, I’m pretty sure.