I installed GrapheneOS and first thing I did was install Signal from Calyx repo in F-Droid.
I transferred my account over from my previous phone.

Secondly, I installed Sandboxed Google Play.

When I went into Signal to check messages, I noticed one of my contact's name was not what I had assigned it to be in previous phone. It was the first part of their Gmail address. At this point I had not added any contacts into this new phone.

Does that mean Google interacted with Signal, recognized that contact in Signal, and changed their name to their gmail?

    Luigi64 That's not an official way to obtain the Signal app. You should get Signal from an official source: either the Signal website (which has a self-update function) or the Play Store, not a third party repository. Molly is hardened variant of Signal and their official builds are in Accrescent, a more secure app distribution system than F-Droid: https://accrescent.app/.

      Luigi64

      When I went into Signal to check messages, I noticed one of my contact's name was not what I had assigned it to be in previous phone. It was the first part of their Gmail address. At this point I had not added any contacts into this new phone.

      Does that mean Google interacted with Signal, recognized that contact in Signal, and changed their name to their gmail?

      No, That's not how either Signal or Google Play work.

      GrapheneOS changed the title to Can Google interact with Signal app? .
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      • Edited

      GrapheneOS Sorry to ask but i cant find how is molly hardened compared to signal. The website just says it is, without examples for people who cant read code. Graphene for example provides a very detailed overview of its hardening. The github lists some cool features but i wouldnt call it hardening. Am i missing something?

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        other8026
        Yes this is what im saying. Im very interested in what kind of hardening they are doing but most people wouldn't call the app hardened just based on these, so there must be something additional.

        Data encryption at rest - Protect the database with passphrase encryption

        Secure RAM wiper - Securely shred sensitive data from device memory

        Automatic lock - Lock the app automatically under certain conditions

        Multi-device support -- Link multiple devices, including Android tablets, to a single account

        Block unknown contacts - Block messages and calls from unknown senders for security and anti-spam

        Contact deletion - Allows you to delete contacts and stop sharing your profile

        Disappearing call history - Clear call notifications together with expiring messages

        Debug logs are optional - Android logging can be disabled

        Custom backup scheduling - Choose between a daily or weekly interval and the number of backups to retain

        SOCKS proxy and Tor support - Tunnel app network traffic via proxy and Orbot

        From these, none changes how secure the app fundamentally is. Cool privay features yeah but i fail to see how these would even compare to something like hardened maloc, or Graphene's improvements around AOSP encryption, if we use the term "hardened".

        If this is really all of what Molly does, then if i had my own android OS preinstalled with a free space eraser and included a secure folder feature it would be considered hardened.

        Its 100% possible that Molly is actually more secure and hardened, im just saying its not obvious in what ways to me. Graphene representatives dont often mention or recommend software, so naturally im assuming im missing something when questioning this. I'd just like to know where the hardening is.

          [deleted] most people wouldn't call the app hardened just based on these

          Well, I would, so I guess I'm not really able to answer your question. Almost all of the listed features make Molly "harder" than Signal, so I'd argue that Molly is a hardened fork of Signal.

          Seems like a very weird definition of "hardening" if I'll be honest. Hardening literally just means that is made to be more secure/private than before. So as other8026 said, I would also (like most people actually would) consider Molly to be hardened. GrapheneOS is hardened compared to regular Android. Arkenfox (and Tor, I guess maybe?) would be more hardened compared to regular Firefox. And so on. "Hardened" does not mean a very specific state of existence, and anything other than that state does not mean "not hardened".

          Absolutely I think the general forum users here would agree that Molly is a hardened version of Signal. It seems the users post came off as a bash of Molly for some reason or the user who made the post may still be feeling aftereffects of New Years :)

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          Well i guess then i just misunderstood the definiton.

          What do you have to worry about if you use signal, that you don’t have to worry about if you use Molly?

            Blastoidea

            One obvious situation is the unlocked phone gets taken while Molly is locked. In that case, the messages will be encrypted.

              GrapheneOS I installed Signal from Aurorastore and considered this the "natural way" for Android-apps, until I read your post.

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              That's not an official way to obtain the Signal app. You should get Signal from an official source: either the Signal website (which has a self-update function) or the Play Store, not a third party repository...

              I have to agree here.