6 ms·

Seeing usage statistics, it seems that signal is dying slowly. It boomed during covid but almost no new chat is started there nowadays.

bilal4hmed 3y ago
Can you provide a link to the stats please?
- signaluser 3y ago
  https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F012pq75w&hl=en https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=...
  - bilal4hmed 3y ago
    those are search trends and not usage trends.
    - signaluser 3y ago
      You are right, i thought for a moment I was in usagetrends.google.com
      - Lornedon 3y ago
        Why do you respond like that to valid criticism?
        signaluser 3y ago
        Google trends is a good proxy for usage. It's not the whole picture but a good start. No need to point the obvious
        kstrauser 3y ago
        I don't think it is. Here's the trend for Facebook: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F02y1vz&hl=en https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=... Meanwhile, at least some sources claim their numbers are still slowly climbing: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly...
        signaluser 3y ago
        https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F012pq75w,%2Fm%2F0zwk75g&hl=en https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=... Telegram on the other hand keeps growing
robbintt 3y ago
Does it matter if it is growing or shrinking? The users are getting usage, and the maintainers are providing a service. Is there a profit motive being unfulfilled?
- hadlock 3y ago
  In 2020-2021 it seemed like 20-30% of my contacts were using signal as their SMS/MMS app of choice. Then they forced SMS users off the platform, giving some reasoning that SMS users don't understand which messages get encrypted, or something. I lost track of signal's usage and uninstalled it after it lost SMS support. At this point I don't know anyone still using Signal regularly anymore.
  - brenns10 3y ago
    Maybe you don't know who's using it because you uninstalled it? Obviously anecdotal, but almost all my friends and family are still using it, and usage has increased compared to SMS or other options.
  - batiudrami 3y ago
    I mean you have signal uninstalled so I’m not sure how you’d be across who is using it. 99% of my messages are sent on Signal with 100ish contacts including all bar two of my friends who I message regularly. But I would never think to suggest my anecdotal evidence is the norm.
  - tapoxi 3y ago
    They removed SMS support because Google doesn't provide an RCS API, causing received RCS messages to fall on the floor. All carriers in the U.S. will default to RCS when messaging between Android phones these days.
    - ixwt 3y ago
      I never saw this anywhere until this comment. The letters "RCS" never appear anywhere in the blog post[0] where they announced they were removing SMS Signal support. Where did you hear this from? This would be a much more reasonable reason than the drivel the espoused in their blog post. [0]: https://www.signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/ https://www.signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/
tapoxi 3y ago
It's #10 on the U.S. App Store, placing it ahead of Skype, Viber, and WeChat. Not as popular as some, but certainly doing fine.

bilal4hmed 3y ago

Can you provide a link to the stats please?

signaluser 3y ago
https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F012pq75w&hl=en https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=...
- bilal4hmed 3y ago
  those are search trends and not usage trends.
  - signaluser 3y ago
    You are right, i thought for a moment I was in usagetrends.google.com
    - Lornedon 3y ago
      Why do you respond like that to valid criticism?
      - signaluser 3y ago
        Google trends is a good proxy for usage. It's not the whole picture but a good start. No need to point the obvious
        kstrauser 3y ago
        I don't think it is. Here's the trend for Facebook: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F02y1vz&hl=en https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=... Meanwhile, at least some sources claim their numbers are still slowly climbing: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly-active-facebook-users-worldwide/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/264810/number-of-monthly...
        signaluser 3y ago
        https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=%2Fm%2F012pq75w,%2Fm%2F0zwk75g&hl=en https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=... Telegram on the other hand keeps growing

robbintt 3y ago

Does it matter if it is growing or shrinking? The users are getting usage, and the maintainers are providing a service. Is there a profit motive being unfulfilled?

hadlock 3y ago
In 2020-2021 it seemed like 20-30% of my contacts were using signal as their SMS/MMS app of choice. Then they forced SMS users off the platform, giving some reasoning that SMS users don't understand which messages get encrypted, or something. I lost track of signal's usage and uninstalled it after it lost SMS support. At this point I don't know anyone still using Signal regularly anymore.
- brenns10 3y ago
  Maybe you don't know who's using it because you uninstalled it? Obviously anecdotal, but almost all my friends and family are still using it, and usage has increased compared to SMS or other options.
- batiudrami 3y ago
  I mean you have signal uninstalled so I’m not sure how you’d be across who is using it. 99% of my messages are sent on Signal with 100ish contacts including all bar two of my friends who I message regularly. But I would never think to suggest my anecdotal evidence is the norm.
- tapoxi 3y ago
  They removed SMS support because Google doesn't provide an RCS API, causing received RCS messages to fall on the floor. All carriers in the U.S. will default to RCS when messaging between Android phones these days.
  - ixwt 3y ago
    I never saw this anywhere until this comment. The letters "RCS" never appear anywhere in the blog post[0] where they announced they were removing SMS Signal support. Where did you hear this from? This would be a much more reasonable reason than the drivel the espoused in their blog post. [0]: https://www.signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/ https://www.signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/

tapoxi 3y ago

It's #10 on the U.S. App Store, placing it ahead of Skype, Viber, and WeChat. Not as popular as some, but certainly doing fine.