I finally went through my contacts list of the 80 people or so that I regularly talk to, and I convinced 2 of them to get Signal. One of the comments I got from somebody who chose not to use it was “What’s the point of using it if I’m using a Google phone using Google’s keyboard? They have my texts from my typing."
I thought that was a pretty good question, and that I would pose it here. Google and Apple are theoretically harvesting everything you type into the phone anyways. How does Signal solve that?
Step 1 is to stop using Google keyboard. And there are ways to cut off any app’s internet access in Android. I use GOS and not Google’s or the OEM’s Android so I don’t know the specific name of the setting but there should be one in the settings or there may be an app for that.
It seems obvious that yes, there are many significant advantages to using Signal in this situation, but here goes:
You are protected from network adversaries with end-to-end encryption, unlike most messengers and especially unlike SMS.
The keyboard can’t read your messages, so in theory it only could observe one side of the thread.
The keyboard doesn’t know who you’re messaging. Maybe if you type a username or number to start a chat and immediately send a message, but after that most people are not typing in their full contact’s metadata to start every conversation.
You have to trust your operating system to some extent. Apple’s keyboard doesn’t connect to the internet. Google’s does, but Signal requests the keyboard doesn’t track things in the app on Android. You can find this in Signal’s settings in the Privacy section, it’s called “Incognito Keyboard” and it has a link where you can read more about this setting and its limitations.
Should you totally trust either of those things? Probably not, but this is the best Signal can do. It’s an app. It can’t guide you to a secure room to use a secure phone where nobody could possibly be looking over your shoulder physically or digitally.
What keyboard would one want to use? I’ve looked for recommendations on PG, but never saw any. I tried FUTO keyboard, but it was borderline unusable with how inaccurate it was. I’m not expecting Gboard or Swiftkey levels of performance, but I do need some way to reasonably communicate.
FUTO works just fine for me so not sure what your needs really are. Heliboard is another one you can use but none of these apps are stable albeit they do work well for what they are right now.
All of them are relatively bad. Especially, if you do a lot of multi-language writing. If you only write here and there, it might be ok, but if you write a lot, it’s just a waste of time and you will come back to Gboard sooner or later.
I send between 50-60 emails a day from my phone, and probably well over a hundred texts. I’m a GC, so I’m on the go putting out fires constantly. Makes it hard to use GOS and FUTO.
Before I switched to iOS from Android I was using Heliboard for a good long while. I thought it was easier to use than GBoard but that’s just my opinion. I got it off of f-droid.
I tried a few others too but can’t remember the name of them… Heliboard stood out to me.
Thanks! I’ll give it a try and see if it works any better. Just curious, how has your experience been privacy wise with IOS? I’ve been considering it, as I really do not want to deal with Pixel phones again.
I’ll relate this a bit to keyboards so it stays somewhat on topic
For keyboard, as Jonah mentioned above the iOS keyboard does not connect to the internet whereas GBoard does. Not that I am letting my guard down privacy-wise but I feel less tense using iOS than I was on Android. This is because until 3 months ago I’ve only ever had a Samsung phone.
So, I can’t speak coming from Graphene. But for coming from Samsung to iOS I find privacy options to be better. Specifically Advanced data protection, stolen device protection, and lockdown mode (though I don’t have that one enabled). iMessage is another because a lot of people in my circle have iOS (though requires more trust in Apple).
So I can’t say it is perfect but I am enjoying the blend of convenience with privacy & security (vs my Samsung phone, not Graphene).
I appreciate your insight. I am also currently on a Samsung phone, so it would be a decent hardware and privacy upgrade for me. Thanks for humoring my derailment of my own topic haha.
No problem! I would agree with you on hardware and privacy upgrade. I went with a 3 year old 14 pro max from a S22 Ultra. It’s been a significant step forward for me in my journey so far (only about 4 months into my privacy journey).
