this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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The Signal messenger and protocol.

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Hi all.

For a long long time I've been very happy with Signal, but have lately become rather annoyed that:

  1. it too often bugs me about about an update and forces me to do an update before I can write to my single/only recipient, and
  2. it too often bugs me about my pin code, even tho I never asked for such an annoying level of security.

These security measures are completely overkill for my/normal use, unnecessary, annoying and very aggressive. I'm an adult, and unless there's a super dangerous zeroday attack/vulnerability, I don't need constant forced updates, I don't want to retype a pin code for any reason or interval, and I certainly don't need to be told how I should run my system, when to upgrade or have software on my system that 'randomly' gets locked down for whatever reason.

Does anyone know how I can turn it off (Linux, Android) ? Is there another client fork that don't force me to follow their idea of what security level is necessary ?

Thanks, and apols for negativity..

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[โ€“] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You can disable the pin/the popup. I haven't had to type my pin ever, other than to register a new device.

For the updates: which platform are you using. On android it updates automatically and never bothers me when starting. On Windows it displays a message about a new update, but in 99% of cases I can still use the app without updating.

No experience with the Linux client but I assume if you just regularly update your system, maybe turn on unattended upgrades in your package manager etc. it will also keep signal up to date.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Sorry for delay. I'm using the Linux version (6.41.0) and there's a Signal in-app message saying that 'This version have expired. upgrade to latest version to continue messaging'

I oc don't mind updating if there's a huge security flaw that harms others, but they could explain that an update is absolutely crucial, it has happened several times before, and I don't need excessive security for a 2-person network with my son. If the underlying protocol is still insecure at this point, then its not so good.

I can hope that the latest forced upgrades was just an emergency, but otherwise I'll have to find another stable client/protocol.

For the pin issue, I goofed up and didn't see the setting (sorry). Thanks for answer.