01-05-2024, 06:07 PM
Hi, I totally agree that Signal can be frustrating to work with, especially on the PinePhone, but it is possible to get it working.
Now if you want to set up Signal on your PinePhone, there are at least 2 options that I'm aware:
1- Install the Axolotl client:
It should be able to register an account without the need to link to a Android/iOS device.
However from my experience it is not that great and is lacking features. I can't say how usable it is in the real world since I never tried anything more than registering an account, linking Signal-Desktop to it and messaging myself. It could have improved since I tried it but it doesn't seem to be in active development.
2- Install Signal-Desktop on the PinePhone:
Sure, it is not what the desktop app was meant for, but it does work and is what I use. Since there are no official builds for the aarch64 cpu architecture, you'll either have to compile it yourself (I could never get that working) or use an unofficial binary release such as this one (disclaimer: I am not affiliated with that project, it is up to you to trust it is legit).
But then you still have the problem of linking it to a main device. To do that without requiring an Android/iOS device you can register the account through signal-cli (or even Axolotl now that I think about it). Then once it asks you to scan the QR code, you just screenshot it and run it through zbarimg, then use the returned URI to link it from signal-cli.
signal-cli doesn't have to be running on the PinePhone, you can set it up on your PC/server and be done with it after it's done linking (however you should keep it around in case you have to re-link for whatever reason).
There are plenty of clients for all platforms. I'm not sure what options there are for the PinePhone but they can't be worse than Signal.
(01-05-2024, 01:27 PM)JamesBond009 Wrote: 1) Are there any other ways to setup Signal or Signal desktop without them secretly collecting our device data?Let's start with data collection. It is always required to provide a phone number to register an account. As far as the fingerprinting thing you mentioned, I have not seen any evidence to support that claim.
Now if you want to set up Signal on your PinePhone, there are at least 2 options that I'm aware:
1- Install the Axolotl client:
It should be able to register an account without the need to link to a Android/iOS device.
However from my experience it is not that great and is lacking features. I can't say how usable it is in the real world since I never tried anything more than registering an account, linking Signal-Desktop to it and messaging myself. It could have improved since I tried it but it doesn't seem to be in active development.
2- Install Signal-Desktop on the PinePhone:
Sure, it is not what the desktop app was meant for, but it does work and is what I use. Since there are no official builds for the aarch64 cpu architecture, you'll either have to compile it yourself (I could never get that working) or use an unofficial binary release such as this one (disclaimer: I am not affiliated with that project, it is up to you to trust it is legit).
But then you still have the problem of linking it to a main device. To do that without requiring an Android/iOS device you can register the account through signal-cli (or even Axolotl now that I think about it). Then once it asks you to scan the QR code, you just screenshot it and run it through zbarimg, then use the returned URI to link it from signal-cli.
signal-cli doesn't have to be running on the PinePhone, you can set it up on your PC/server and be done with it after it's done linking (however you should keep it around in case you have to re-link for whatever reason).
(01-05-2024, 01:27 PM)JamesBond009 Wrote: 2) Any non-Signal alternativesWell, literally anything else I guess. If you want something that supports E2EE and can run virtually anywhere without depending on phone numbers or other personal info, I'd say XMPP is a good option to consider.
There are plenty of clients for all platforms. I'm not sure what options there are for the PinePhone but they can't be worse than Signal.