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eylenburg / eylenburg.github.io

https://eylenburg.github.io/
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CalyxOS - Feature: Dialer forwarding to encrypted chat apps #51

Closed lucasmz-dev closed 2 months ago

lucasmz-dev commented 2 months ago

CalyxOS recommends the user to use Signal or WhatsApp (if installed! it'll ultimately be better than regular calls) when you dial a number and it finds that person. This only doesn't really work if you're calling to someone that has Signal's number privacy settings enabled fully, of course.

It also has a big fat warning that phone calls, that their audio and location are not private, which would also be nice to note.

matchboxbananasynergy commented 2 months ago

Just to make sure I understand, all this does is start a Signal (or Whatsapp) call when you start a call from the dialer, instead of you having to go to the Signal app?

If added, it should be made clear what this does, because in practice it doesn't really add functionality that doesn't exist in an installation where someone just has Signal or Whatsapp installed.

matchboxbananasynergy commented 2 months ago

I took a closer look, and I believe that my assessment in my previous comment was correct as far as what the feature does is concerned. Honestly, I don't really see what this feature is meant to do that's positive.

The feature's existence is an implicit recommendation to grant messaging apps like Signal and Whatsapp access to your contacts, which even for Signal, is something that's ideally avoided. When you give those apps access to your contacts, they implement contact discovery by uploading your list of contacts. The feature is essentially recommending that people upload their contacts to Facebook.

This is made even more questionable with the addition of usernames to Signal. If anything, the recommendations and OS features should be pushing people towards not making their Signal number public, and not giving Signal access to contacts, not the opposite, right? On top of that being better for privacy, it makes this feature even less useful, since a lot of peoples' Signal contacts are no longer discoverable by phone number at all, meaning that the Signal app itself should be used to call Signal contacts, not this dialer approach. Signal has even added a call button at the bottom that works like a dialer (showing recent calls, missed calls, etc. and allowing you to call or video call Signal contacts).

I initially thought that this wasn't significant enough to list, but on further reading and thinking about it more, it almost sounds like an anti-feature in a way.