When I used to be on Divest OS, I had the same issue as you. Signal installed from apk on their website did not update at some point (it used to before).

If you can't auto-updates to work I'd suggest either:

  • Installing Signal from Play Store
  • Switching to the hardened Signal variant called Molly and installing it from Accrescent or Github.
    • [deleted]

    I updated yesterday via Obtainium to latest 6.8.3, yet it keeps stubbornly saying I am on older 6.7.6 version...

      Mara I downloaded 6.8.3 from the Signal website and installed it. The version Aurora Store says I should upgrade to is 6.8.3 too. That is my issue.

      • Mara replied to this.

        pdagenius Let's see. On Aurora the current version is "6.8.3 (119601)". On the website it's "versionCode": 119600, "versionName": "6.8.3".

        The only difference is a single digit in the versionCode. Even though the version is the same, the versionCode is higher by 1 so that's why Aurora is suggesting an update.
        Why is it different then? I think this is common when developers make different variants of their apps to differentiate between them. Note that the only difference between the signal website and the Play version is that the former checks for updates itself, which isn't allowed in Play Store.
        Anyways, I don't think it really matters. I'm sure when they update the website version you'll receive an actual update.
        If you don't want to be confused you can blacklist signal in Aurora to only receive updates through the website.

          Mara Ah, OK. Thanks, I did not spot that subtlety. That would explain it.

          Something to keep in mind, where you install an app from, you may need to always update it from the same source. This is because of signature pinning.

          I have some apps I installed directly from github, but they show up in droidify with notification to update when an update is available. But it doesnt mean that I can update using droidify. Attepting to do so will download the new APK but will not install (gives error). Be mindful of this.

          If you get signal from its website, I think best way to update it is with obtanium, I think.

          To keep track of where I got each app from I have made a note that keeps track of that so I dont forget.

          I've heard aurora doesn't pin signatures, and hence I don't know how it will act with github/website installed apps.

          Although I must say I havent found out "how" to update signal using obtanium yet. I can't figure out what "address" to put for its source in obtanium for it to recognize.

            User2288 Yes, had come across the app source issue. Am also trying to use Obtainium now for the non Playstore apps.

              • [deleted]

              I think we are all missing a point here trying to use non Playstore apps thanks to the linkability/identifyiabilty mainly via cellular, wifi and browsing script google analytics which we know is injected in most places we visit. So unless we decide to create a brand new identity from scratch and decide to not step twice in the same river, we are ultimately zucked.

              treequell I'll suggest installing Molly from Accrescent IMHO (if you don't have Play Store), it's more secure and you don't have to TOFU because apps are verified before installation. It's a bit out of scope though.

              pdagenius
              If you have downloaded Signal from the website (meaning the apk) I'll suggest to you to let Signal updating itself when there's an update available. If you installed it from Aurora, just use update Signal via Aurora then.

                samsepi0l I'll suggest installing Molly from Accrescent IMHO (if you don't have Play Store), it's more secure and you don't have to TOFU because apps are verified before installation. It's a bit out of scope though.

                Do you have a list of Accrescent apps available? I am planning into migrating from F-Droid to it.

                  Signal always auto updates and notifies me appropriately, however I use it in a non Google Play Profile granting it Battery Optimisation Exception to enable the websocket connection to be maintained for push.

                  If you are using it from the website while using sandboxed Play Services it may conflict as Signal may not push the notification to self update via FCM believing any app using FCM would be updated appropriately via the Play Store.

                    MetropleX That's an interesting thought. Thank you. Will have to wait for the next update and see what happens.

                    For what it's worth Signal stopped prompting me to update about a month? ago. Installed from their website as an apk. Used to self update like every week....

                    • [deleted]

                    bayesian

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                    Molly

                    It's still in alpha, a limited list of devs are allowed to publish their apps for now.

                    Nuttso

                    BTW, in Molly's settings, you can go into the settings (Vertical 3 dots > Settings > Help > Toggle the "Auto-update Molly" switch off and then on) to "manually" trigger a Molly update, if you know that there's a released update but the app hasn't checked yet.

                    IIRC, the Signal website APK doesn't have options/menus to trigger any form of update. You basically pray that the update will come when the website APK automatically checks for updates on its own.

                    Just one thing to note, the Signal website apk version only fetches updates while on wifi. If you are on mobile data all the time it will not auto-update.