Signal alternative for SMS now they want to drop its support

Orphee

Hello,

As you may know, Signal decided to drop SMS support in a near future...
It seems they consider it as legacy and don't want to bother with it anymore...

But here in France, SMS is still in use for most of us, and for man usages (bank 2FA, package notification delivery etc...)
I would be very happy to avoid SMS usage, but must consider 80% of my contacts uses SMS, or WhatsApp...

WhatsApp is a NOGO for me of course, or I would not use Signal...
But SMS is still mandatory, unknown contacts or family not familiar with technology don't want to bother with a dedicated app...
I successfully made some friends and family install Signal some month/year ago with SMS integration argument "don't worry, you won't have to bother with another app, you will still use only one app... blabla..."
And trust me, for some like my stepmother, now Signal wants to drop SMS support, I feel bad... I will now need to explain them the situation... and hope they will understand it, and what will change for them (If they are still OK with it... Most of them will probably simply drop Signal...)

Signal does not seems to bother with handreds of messages on Twitter/Github and there board asking to keep SMS support

But, as we can't do anything about it, we must consider an alternative for SMS support.
Looking at what currently exists for SMS, to be honest, the default GrapheneOS SMS app is ... "simple".

I saw some comments about apps like TextraSMS wich seems to be very handfull, but don't really know if it is safe for privacy concerns...

Some others recommand Google Messages (really ?) with its RCS integration...
But looking a bit on articles about it I found some concerns :
https://www.androidpolice.com/google-messages-phone-app-text-messages-call-logs-google/

May I ask users opinion here about our best options ?

As a reminder just to close a useless debate. I CANNOT ignore/avoid SMS usage, again, here in France, it is still widely used for many stuffs... and YES, I will still use Signal the best I can... even if I feel betrayed / backstabbed by their choice after years feeling like and abassador for them praising them...

deign

Orphee No form of SMS is safe. You may as well use any that appeal visually. They're ALL insecure, and as unprivate as can be.

Signal having it built it was NOT good practice. SMS should be isolated and something you're aware of sending/receiving. Signals implementation led to a lot of signal messages being resent as texts inadvertently.

Long story short, doesn't matter.

Standardwaste

Orphee after reading this linked in the article, which states

B. Google Play Services Telemetry
The Google Message and Dialer apps do not send data directly
to Google, but rather send data to event logging services
within Google Play Services. Specifically, to the Clearcut
logger service and the Google/Firebase Analytics service.
These Google Play Service components expose APIs that the
app uses to communicate with them. The Clearcut logger and
Google/Firebase Analytics services then batch up data received
and forward it to Google servers. The Clearcut logger sends
data to https://play.googleapis.com/log/batch while Google/-
Firebase Analytics sends data to https://app-measurement.
com/. This process is illustrated schematically in Figure 5.
The Clearcut logger and Google/Firebase Analytics services
encode the data in different formats for sending to Google.

It may be possible to revoke network access/background data of Google Play Services/GSF if not used elsewhere, and that should disable the telemetry from Google Messages. I will look into this as I am also looking for a text messaging application.

newbie24689

Orphee , Well stated.

ISTM your situation is common for MOST users; certainly for me. SMS is simply the standard; insecure protocol at this time, but not yet replaced for the masses.

IMHO stick with the GOS messenger for routine txts - consider them postcards that are readily readable in transit.

You know who wrote/maintains it - trustworthy, skilled and not spyware.
It is part of the hardened OS - using hardened tools and techniques. A lot of cell phones have been hacked via SMS - I bet GOS messenger is NOT one of them, but some third party messenger could be.

mjnck

I use QKSMS for SMS. Seems quite simple and functional.

Orphee

mjnck not updated since one year and half, abandoned ?
I know there is not always need to update when it works, but just asking.

mjnck

Orphee
Maybe its abaddoned but stock sms app is abbadoned also, it havent changed since about android 5.0/6.0 😄
Its just sms, not every software has to be updated daily 😃

Orphee

deign I currently don't care about protocol security concerns... I know all this. As already said I just HAVE to deal with it.
No need to redo the useless 800+ posts from their forum, you have your opinion, I have mine.
I was referencing to application privacy perspective.
Why should I choose one or another SMS apps.
I thought my first post was clear enough...

deign

Orphee >Long story short, doesn't matter.

samsepi0l

First thing first, SMS is insecure on all levels.

You can either use default SMS app of GrapheneOS or use Google Messages as you can have e2ee (which actually uses the Signal protocol).

Orphee

samsepi0l Google message e2ee only works if other also to use Google message.. right ?

samsepi0l

Orphee Yes, which makes it opportunistic enncryption as a lot of people is using it anyway

Conjure6589

I'm considering 3 options for SMS once Signal drops it. 1. Simple SMS, which looks ok but not great. Heard some complaints of bugs not being fixed when reported. 2. QKSMS but I think it's abandoned now. 3. Stock Graphene messenger, I'll probably end up using this but just wish it had a dark theme.

rhinenome

I used to use QKSMS before it was abandoned.

I use Simple SMS now and love it. I personally haven't had any issues with it yet.

If you change the theme in Simple SMS to System default, it follows your phone's Material You theme. It works for every Simple Tools apps

Orphee

Yep, dark theme is mandatory for me!
I saw QKSMS seems abandoned looking at its GitHub repo...
I'll look at Simple SMS too !
Thanks

Oggyo

Orphee I saw QKSMS seems abandoned looking at its GitHub repo...

Looks like there is some movement on its repo, hopefully, a new update soon. :)
https://github.com/moezbhatti/qksms/releases

Orphee

Standardwaste Google play services is used with firebase for notifications in most of apps like protommail, signal (if Google play services installed) etc... You can't revoke its permissions without a big drawback.

eatinggrumble84

Standardwaste

I'm curious if Gboard sends telemetry similarly. I currently use Gboard in my main profile and only have Play services installed in a work profile. But to used Google Messages, i'd have to install in the main profile with Play services. But I hadn't thought of revoking internet access for Play services.

Standardwaste

Orphee

eatinggrumble84

I currently use Molly-FOSS instead of Signal, which does not rely on firebase for notifications. For Gcam I only have GSF installed, which has all permissions revoked.

As far as using Google messages, after looking at https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.google.android.apps.messaging/latest/ I find the following permissions outside what I am personally willing to install:

CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE
change network connectivity
CONNECTIVITY_USE_RESTRICTED_NETWORKS
DOWNLOAD_WITHOUT_NOTIFICATION
INTERNET
have full network access

eatinggrumble84

Standardwaste

I assume those permissions are null if Network is revoked by GOS. But does RCS require network access?

mylesofsmiles

eatinggrumble84 I don't think it does. I have RCS enabled and even after receiving several messages through it in the past 24 hours it never showed as accessed in permissions. I am not going to be the guy who tests it out though because I rely on it so much. Let me know if you can send without the network permission.

Orphee

Thanks for your messages...
I installed Google Message and enabled RCS to check... And I discover some of my contacts are using it already...
It seems their default SMS app (Samsung, OnePlus...) handle it.
I bet one Pixel phones default app is Google Message...
I will probably deal with it for SMS/RCS purpose...

Thank you!

Orphee

mjnck I agree but looking at GitHub issues it seems there are actually some bugs currently happening and annoying. (Dual sim)