It seems useless to me, at least regarding the cybersecurity aspect. Of course, it’s helpful when people ask for my contact information, and I don’t want to share my phone number or email address.
But they still require information that could be used to prove or be linked to my identity for registration, right?
This means a hacker could still reveal your IP address, phone number, email, and your passcode. Likewise, the development team can access these as well.
I know I’m overly cautious about my privacy, but that’s just how I am.
So if I claim fubo as a username on Signal, that means what? Nobody else can use that username? If so, it’s another global namespace, same as Twitter; ten or twenty years in the future, someone’s gonna want to be reclaiming disused usernames.
(What if I want to be fubo to some people, and MissCatPictures to other people? Can I do that from one phone? One phone number?)
Seems I’m in the minority but having to use my phone number as identier is exactly why I don’t use apps like this, including WhatsApp. I don’t care if my username gets shared, but I do not want my phone number to be shared with a bunch of randoms.
I remember when Signal used to be a drop-in replacement for SMS. It used phone numbers so you could automatically upgrade to secure messaging if your recipient also had Signal, and just use regular SMS otherwise.
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So if I claim
fuboas a username on Signal, that means what? Nobody else can use that username? If so, it’s another global namespace, same as Twitter; ten or twenty years in the future, someone’s gonna want to be reclaiming disused usernames.(What if I want to be
fuboto some people, andMissCatPicturesto other people? Can I do that from one phone? One phone number?)Jami allows that, and I think Cwtch does as well. SimpleX doesn’t have usernames at all.
Seems I’m in the minority but having to use my phone number as identier is exactly why I don’t use apps like this, including WhatsApp. I don’t care if my username gets shared, but I do not want my phone number to be shared with a bunch of randoms.
I remember when Signal used to be a drop-in replacement for SMS. It used phone numbers so you could automatically upgrade to secure messaging if your recipient also had Signal, and just use regular SMS otherwise.
Signal’s automatic fallback to SMS was the best. Now they killed that and even have the audacity to ask for donations. Boo!