Samsung is shutting down messages and pushing the use of Google’s messenger. Are there alternatives? I don’t want to give Google that much personal info to train its AI or to give the regime an avenue to getting my info.

  • Steve@communick.news
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    1 day ago

    If you don’t evangelize all your contacts into using it, you wouldn’t get any benefit from using it for SMS anyway. That’s why they removed SMS support, it confused people about the privacy of SMS messages.

    • sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz
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      The benefit for me was having an sms client that wasn’t Google’s. Additional privacy with other users that were already onboard with their own volition was a bonus.

      • Steve@communick.news
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        You get that using any other SMS app and Signal.
        Literally the only gain is having one app instead of two.

        • sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz
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          and yet here we are discussing alternative SMS apps, no? One might assume people want an app that can do sms to replace the sms app that is going away

          • sem@piefed.blahaj.zone
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            1 day ago

            Two things happening.

            Signal never supported the type of RCS that google messages and iMessage use.

            You might have an easier time evangelizing signal if it also did SMS. But I believe them if they said the mixed messaging was more damaging to the UX than the slight advantage it granted.

            Especially since it can’t do RCS, since google is a monopolist.

            • sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz
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              I did have an easier time recommending it back then. It made sense to recommend it. But literally nobody I convinced to use it was interested in continuing to do so when the devs removed a basic function

        • ikt@aussie.zone
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          Literally the only gain is having one app instead of two.

          It’s also easier to convince others to use signal if there’s an added bonus: you’re already using it

            • ikt@aussie.zone
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              it’s easier to convince someone to use one app that allows them to continue to talk to other people than 2

              and the second one has no one else using it