Who is the active user base for signal these days? Everyone I knew who was using it dropped off after the SMS debacle, which was a shame.
Edit:
Wow some weird haters on HN today. I was honestly curious as an active signal user that was no longer able to use it to message people in North America and had never seen anyone using it in East Asia. Apparently this makes some other signal users very angry.
I've been to a lot of meetups in the last year and exchanged contacts with people. As a nerdy idealist running a deGoogled Android with no proprietary software, I always have to tell them that I don’t have WhatsApp, just Signal. Again and again I have heard the reply, “Oh, yeah, I’ve got Signal, I use it to buy drugs.”
So, that’s some of the active user base in my city, but none of those users are very motivated to use Signal with their network of contacts in general. There WhatsApp reigns.
That's been similar to my experience in the last year. WhatsApp or even worse, Snapchat, seems to be the preferred "private" messaging platforms, which is depressing to say the least.
Buying drugs from shady people online like on Telegram channels is a good way to get you not high or killed. Apparently they're selling HHC now that looks like bud? No thanks. I'll stick to my local guy straight from behind the bushes next to the park.
those users probably have a far lower impact on Signal's operating costs because they're only sending the occasional message instead of using it as a broadcast platform.
The SMS issue was mainly a problem in the US where people used it for SMS and therefore never mattered since that communication was never secure. Those people probably never even cared for security since they, as you said even went out there and actually uninstalled an app. Something people seem to rarely do.
I use it for friends, family and colleagues. People now started asking me for it (or safe alternatives to Facebook Messenger) since Facebook started asking people to pay for non-targeted ads recently. They actually got people to think about the data they share with an outdated social network.
Yep, the whole point of Signal for me was the SMS component. I put up with the old-fashioned UI for that reason. Now it just looks and acts like a Telegram clone.
I have yet to find a replacement that both I like and other people use. Matrix and Session I have yet to find anyone using, telegram seems to be almost entirely bots in my area, and WhatsApp etc are owned by Meta.
I've converted all of my friends and family to using it. It's the "social media" for my world now. I'm probably an outlier for that, but it makes me happy!
Edit: Wow some weird haters on HN today. I was honestly curious as an active signal user that was no longer able to use it to message people in North America and had never seen anyone using it in East Asia. Apparently this makes some other signal users very angry.