This is exactly the kind of stolid activism that gets people close to you to change. Nice work.
For those who have successfully encouraged friends and family to adopt Signal, which approaches have worked best?
Honestly, I suspect they mainly did it because I told them it’d mean a lot to me.
Also championing it with enthusiasm engaged people better than ideals of open source, E2EE and non-profit structures, since that’s not part of their value set, and you’re trying to get them on an app, not convert them.
I also suspect disaffection with Big Tech helped open the door to trying an alternative to begin with.
Once half the family or friend group was on, the other half migrated to avoid feeling left out, so momentum also works in your favor, as well as simply using the older/other channels less.
not being available on another app
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I just tell them I use Signal because they have custom stickers you can install and I frequently use it for the safety that Signal encryption gives. 
Yeah but then they say whatsapp has that same encryption and then you have to start talking about social graphs and timestamps like a nutter haha
Techlore did a video recently where he talked about how most people these days are at least somewhat aware of privacy issues and that there is a popular distrust of US big tech, China surveillance, etc. It’s not like how it was 10-15 years ago when most people were completely ignorant.
The point I’m making is that if you were forced to explain why Signal over something like WhatsApp to someone who obviously doesn’t care about deeper privacy issues, you can say something like “I don’t trust Meta/ Facebook/Zuckerberg” and more people than you realize will just nod their head. If you really want to avoid the privacy angle, replace you not trusting something with you not liking something. It might sound similar, but there’s a stark difference. Saying you don’t trust something is an argument and the burden of proof falls on you to explain why it’s not trustworthy, and now you’re going down the rabbit hole that will turn off many people. On the other hand, saying you don’t like something and prefer something else, that’s not a debatable argument, it’s an opinion. You’re also casting that opinion in a social environment where most people are aware that this opinion exists, as Techlore pointed out.
I would avoid all the deeper privacy topics and explanations with most casual people that you’re trying to convert to Signal. Confidence and unwavering stubbornness are key to convincing ordinary people. Politicians prove this every day.
You’re not blocking them from going on a privacy journey either by doing this. You’re just not forcing them to go down the rabbit hole right then and there when they’re likely not receptive to it.
In my original comment, I referenced this being the tactic I use for people that I’m not super close with. I still had to go down the rabbit hole for some people that I’m closer to since I can’t as easily avoid the topic when I talk to them almost every day. But if I had to do it again, I’d start everyone off using the casual approach and only dive deeper if they demand it. But at that point, they’d already be on Signal anyway.
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Wouldn’t it be better if everyone used SimpleX? Signal looks great since when did we accept that we need a damn phone to use a chat tool? It’s so annoying. I don’t want to have to make sure I don’t lose a phone or something, let alone the privacy implications of attaching phones to private communications.
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you are a true genius
The trick is to start groups on signal for parties or your trip (with stories) etc and thus people have to download it because of FOMO
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