this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024

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I got a new job. whatsapp group (20 people) is migrating to signal because I don't use it. (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 months ago by GravitySpoiled@lemmy.ml to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

171 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I understand that it may be problematic sometimes but this was very smooth. I didn't even say anything.

A: what's your number for the whatsapp group Me: I don't have whatsapp because of facebook. B: ok, we have to use signal then A: ok

And that was it. Life can be very easy sometimes

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[–] Asudox@lemmy.world 268 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Surprised that happened. Very rare to see that these days.

[–] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 113 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Maybe OP works on infosec and the team was like yeah, makes sense?

[–] GravitySpoiled@lemmy.ml 121 points 3 months ago (27 children)

Let's say I work in an IT area (but not infosec)

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[–] Asudox@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

They only realized that when he said that? What a weird infosec team. I guess they also could use SimpleX if they wanted the most secure, private and anonymous option, but I think Signal is pretty well balanced as a messenger. Good privacy and usability.

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[–] GravitySpoiled@lemmy.ml 25 points 3 months ago (2 children)

There may have been discussions around it beforehand. I didn't ask why it went so smooth.

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[–] Damage@feddit.it 187 points 3 months ago (4 children)

At first from the title it seemed like they changed app to avoid you

[–] eager_eagle@lemmy.world 53 points 3 months ago

yeah, that was funny. Creating a group without OP wasn't enough, they had to change apps lol

[–] DharkStare@lemmy.world 15 points 3 months ago

That's exactly what I thought as well from reading the headline. It definitely could have been worded better.

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[–] MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml 88 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (15 children)

Before Signal made the boneheaded move of removing SMS support, it was so much easier for me to pitch the idea of using Signal to my friends and family, most of which eventually did make the shift from SMS to Signal messages for reasons like ease of use when it came to group chats, sending images/videos, voice clips, etc.

But now? Now it's one of those embarrassing moments where I hear back from people basically all saying "your tech recommendations are usually on point but uh, what happened with Signal???" because the app just abruptly stopped supporting SMS and ruined the seamless appeal. SMS support was the perfect way to ease people into shifting towards Signal messages and now the only damn people I know who still know Signal are my most privacy-minded friends/family, while everyone else has switched back to WhatsApp.

Clearly I'm not bitter...😅 But I mean like, come on. I had the most notorious luddites in my social circle make the switch to Signal and they loved it. The shift from SMS to Signal messages was so smooth so many of them didn't even have that "I miss [SMS stuff]", plus they LOVED that Signal could be used on their laptops in addition to their phones. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh this annoys me so much.

[–] akilou@sh.itjust.works 26 points 3 months ago

I totally agree. And to make matters worse, one of their arguments was that supporting SMS was taking resources away from developing other features. But what mind blowing features have come out since they dropped SMS? Usernames, I guess, which they were working on anyway. New app icons...

[–] BaroqueInMind@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Why did they remove SMS support?

[–] ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world 43 points 3 months ago (8 children)

Think it was related to the messages being insecure and signal didn’t want people to be confused.

If your using signal your messages should be secure. SMS messages aren’t secure. It may have been clear to you when Signal send an sms or an encrypted message, but they need to cater to everyone.

[–] doctortran@lemm.ee 16 points 3 months ago (1 children)

That just feels like shooting themselves in the foot. Just inform the user SMS isn't secure. That's it.

Not being willing to trust the user with the information so they can make a choice is asinine. It's the same reason why I stopped using Tuta. Complete privacy and security are great but if there's no option to make things a little more open for the sake of convenience or interconnectivity, I'm just not interested.

Security and privacy shouldn't be a prison.

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[–] ulterno@lemmy.kde.social 82 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I have a feeling B wanted to use Signal, but expected it to be difficult to make others shift. When OP gave the opportunity, B came in and swyped it right away,

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[–] merc@sh.itjust.works 56 points 3 months ago (1 children)

This headline sounds a lot funnier if you assume "it" means Signal, like I did.

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[–] xelar@lemmy.ml 46 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Still, you were lucky that your colleagues are aware of alternatives and will use it (I hope). I wonder though if people will migrate because of you. Its tough to encourage others to communicate Signal while majority use Messenger or Whatsapp. Their reasoning for that is the most friends and family member are on mainstream solutions.

Signal is an interim solution imo for most people, which I also recommend. Not too extreme, not to "geeky", which introduces them to alternative app world.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 25 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What did you do to offend them?

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[–] Thcdenton@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

If i ever get a job and have to use whatsapp, im using to use all those stupid stickers in every message i send

[–] TechNerdWizard42@lemmy.world 23 points 3 months ago (9 children)

Pretty much the entire world, except the US and Canada, is WhatsApp based. Every job chat, every message you send, it's all WhatsApp. Heck to pay for parking or to get immigration visa services from the government, it's mostly WhatsApp. And yes you can send stickers.

Sometimes Lemmy loses perspective that the way 300ish million people do something is not that relevant to the other 7500 million.

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[–] Kit@lemmy.blahaj.zone 20 points 3 months ago (13 children)

Why would a workplace need a group chat? Aren't there any enterprise tools in place to achieve that?

[–] just_an_average_joe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 23 points 3 months ago

Small companies and startups like to save money

[–] Baggins@feddit.uk 10 points 3 months ago (7 children)

Cannot access work intranet (Teams etc.) from personal phones. Don't have work phones. They all use WhatsApp so reluctantly, so do I.

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[–] Today@lemmy.world 18 points 3 months ago

I wish my family was that easy to change, and there are only five of us.

[–] communism@lemmy.ml 16 points 3 months ago

In all my years of not using WhatsApp this has never happened to me lol. At best I've gotten some people to message me individually on Signal but not entire groups

[–] ulterno@lemmy.kde.social 15 points 3 months ago

Do you have a vacancy?

[–] LEVI@feddit.org 14 points 3 months ago

these 20 people are awesome :D

[–] clot27@lemm.ee 14 points 3 months ago

Wow, congrats.

[–] phpinjected@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 3 months ago (1 children)

my workplace only IRC and xmpp for work related chat

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[–] jbk@discuss.tchncs.de 13 points 3 months ago

dream team

[–] halvar@lemm.ee 12 points 3 months ago

Sure and then Santa gave everyone free librebooted thinkpads.

[–] frengo_@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

And i can’t even convince my family…

[–] wuphysics87@lemmy.ml 11 points 3 months ago (2 children)

I convinced my family by telling them I won't use anything else. Use Signal or don't talk to me. Win win

[–] frengo_@lemmy.world 12 points 3 months ago (1 children)

They Uno Reversed this on me. “We’re already on Whatsapp, you’re isolating yourself”

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[–] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 11 points 3 months ago

Damn...

You must be really good

[–] electronVolt@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 months ago

Heck yeah! I got a small work group to use Element instead of slack or discord once. I was so proud of them. Kudos for you.

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