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Compatibility with Signal database

Signal is a secured messenger by Open Whisper Systems. Join successfully forwards the message to the PC and sends responses...but it doesn't seem to add the responses to the Signal message database. FYI Signal is open source, and can be found here (if it helps) https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Android

 

8 replies

DC

A similar problem is now happening with the standard Google Message app, since it also uses a data connection and encrypted communication instead of SMS:

https://joaoapps.helprace.com/i714-join-should-support-google-messages-encrypted-chats

MP

Is this issue supposed to be about Signal-native messages, or SMS in Signal?  As others have pointed out, it doesn't make sense for Join to work with Signal-native messages.  However I have Signal set up as my SMS app, and I've noticed that when I send an SMS from Join Windows 10 app, the recipient receives the message, but it never appears on my phone.

BG

It was about the sms feature, which is also part of the signal native encrypted db

MP

"which is also part of the signal native encrypted db"

I see.  I'm surprised that Join SMS works on my phone at all in this case!  I'm also surprised that Signal is able to completely intercept SMS from being stored in Android's regular SMS database.  I had always assumed Signal's SMS integration just made it another frontend to that central Android SMS database just like most other SMS apps for Android.

BG

I'm not totally sure on the mechanism for sending, but I imagine RECEIVING is just taking over as a front end and redirecting it to a private database. The sending comes from the private database so I think that's why it seems one-way

J

I would like to see Join be able to read the messages stored by Signal - but i doubt it is possible, as Signal encrypts them in its own way. I use the Signal desktop app for Windows 10. For clear text sms, Join should encrypt the message (its HTTPS, but encrypt the data before its being send via SSL, preferbly by using the same certificate/password I just suggested for the Google Drive files over here: https://joaoapps.helprace.com/i167-encrypt-drive-files :-)

RP

Has any progress been made on this in the last few months? Switched my default SMS to Signal when I got my Pixel 2XL, and noticed that my regular SMS messages haven't shown up in Join the last few days. Thanks!

No progress yet, sorry!

T

This was why I never got into using Signal's desktop app or PushBullet. Since Signal stores the sms database encrypted, there doesn't seem to be a solution for doing text messages from the desktop. I like the security that Signal provides but I understand why these apps don't work. For Join to work with Signal it will have to effectively break some level of security in Signal. I would like to see the feature but understand the reason it might be low on the priority list for João

MM

If Signal Desktop (a Chrome extension) also provided access to SMS history and contacts then that would be the best option. Nice tip @Busted, hopefully they'll add SMS too. And I'd say that you're right in theory but I don't think anything but Signal has access to its keys and accordingly to the encrypted comms, so it's probably moot.

But I know for myself this feature request is about SMS messages as opposed to encrypted messages which are handled by separate functions in Signal.

B

Signal has a desktop app fro Windows now.  Having your Signal messages mirrored through another app that saves messages in plain text on Google Drive defeats the purpose of Signal.

You can read all of your notifications and texts on Google Drive as plain text.  There's no client-side decryption app waiting on Google Drive to decrypt the "encrypted" messages from Join, so I can only surmise that it travels completely unencrypted while enroute.  The password just needs to match on both ends for it to allow the device to display the message, as far as I can tell.  But it traveled across joaoapps' server and google's servers as vanilla text, it would appear.

Messages go from your phone to Google Drive via HTTPS (encrypted) and are stored on Google Drive. Then the Join clients download the files from Google Drive directly. They never go through Join's server. Hope this clarifies it.

W

Has any thought been given to this idea? I use Signal as my messenger of choice and encourage everyone I know to do the same (or at the very least some type of E2E encryption communication protocol). This essentially makes the SMS functionality of Join half baked for those of us that would like to take advantage of Join's ability to reply to SMS from the desktop while still enjoying the benefits that Signal offers.

Sorry, I haven't looked into this yet. As you can see there's not much demand for this feature so I'm giving priority to other stuff first.