Getting the people you chat with most to switch messaging platforms is difficult. However, to get the most benefit, you’ll have to try your hardest to get them to jump ship with you. This is made all the more difficult in that there are so many options – an experience of decision paralysis often made worse by the"messaging wars.”
Thankfully, I was able to get all of my friends and family to switch to Signal, but I know that's not always possible. Introducing a private-by-default and E2EE messaging app into your workflow helps prevent self-censorship, surveillance and state censorship in private chats, and is an essential tool to liberty and freedom over the long run.has the brand recognition it does for a reason: It's extremely easy to use, easy to onboard new people and has a similar core feature set as most other default messaging apps. It's not perfect.
Note that Signal does require a phone number to use. That comes with the important ability to handle SMS natively in Signal, making it an extremely capable iMessage replacement and a much easier sell in the U.S. where SMS is still quite popular for some reason. While linking a phone number can be detrimental if pseudonymity or anonymity, this does not harm or reduce the encrypted privacy provided by Signal.
While cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are commonly considered private or anonymous, this is a misnomer. Most cryptocurrencies are not privacy preserving by default, and merely enable fragile pseudonymity at best. With this in mind, here are a couple recommendations for using cryptocurrencies while staying private.