A better Signal wishlist

For starters, I'm going to assume that you have heard of the end-to-end encrypted messenger app, Signal . If you haven't, now is a good time to try it out and report back! Signal is my preferred encrypted messenger given its popularity in the groups and contexts I use it with, though it is surpassed generally by the massively popular WhatsApp. WhatsApp is actually end-to-end encrypted, but it is closed-source, and worst of all- owned by Facebook. (Ironically, WhatsApp was actually the first messenger app — before Signal's own original messenger app, TextSecure00 — to implement Signal's encryption protocol0!)

I hope I don't have to explain the importance of encrypted messenger apps in the world we live in now. Serious encryption is more important now than ever before, as we are living through authoritarian and fascist governments everywhere, including in the United States. Since I've started to rely on Signal for so much, I've also started to accumulate a list of papercuts while using it. Let me now present to you, that list...

Hah, you want to share photos?

I'll start off this list with my most wanted item: Allow opt-in EXIF metadata preservation in photos, configured locally to chats. If you aren't already aware, Signal removes metadata from photos ("EXIF-stripping") when sending photos through the app. EXIF-stripping is a must-have privacy feature — it should be present in hopefully every social media app that has photo sharing. Photo metadata can reveal exact coordinates from where the photograph was taken, timestamps, and more.

However, Signal also needs to balance a clearly strong privacy philosophy with user needs. I do want EXIF-stripped photos when I share photos with untrusted (or less-trusted) contacts/groups, but I really don't want the photos I send to friends, family, and loved ones to be completely remove of metadata. For example, if I were to download photos of a road trip with close friends from our group chat, all of the photos would end up at the end of my photo library after downloading since they lack real timestamps. On the Signal forums, another user noted that in a photography group they were involved in, it would be helpful to have specific camera metadata (focus, aperture, etc) still intact. You can follow the feature request on Signal's discussion board (or see my comment specifically ). There is also an old, closed GitHub issue on the subject .

More (chat-)local options

As I use Signal for more and more of my needs, I run into issues with global configuration options that aren't always applicable. For example, global nicknames. I might want to present myself with my (real) name to family, a different nickname to friends, and an anonymous username in massive unvetted groups. If Signal let users change their nickname per chat, that would be super helpful — right now, I can only have one username that is visible across every chat.

On a much smaller scale, I would like to see custom pinned emoji reactions per conversion . I message friends, family, and other contacts in different ways, and using the same six pinned emoji reactions from one chat to another is frustrating.

Let me reply to that

For some odd reason, a few of Signal's features don't work when replying to another message. So far, I've found that this is the case for stickers, and one-time images. In my mind it seems trivial to allow these for replies as well as non-reply messages.