Hi all! I’d like to request suggestions for a secure messaging app, ideally that doesn’t require mobile phone for registration, to stay connected to my family In Russia.
The country wages war on the Internet, messengers and VPNs. Options are blocked one by one, and one can’t register in Signal because numbers that send registration confirmation from Signal are blocked…
I’d need an app that allows group chats, calls, media attachments and audio messages, easy enough for older people would be able to install. Ideally, something niche enough it won’t be blocked right away…
It’s a lot of requirements, but I hope something like this exists and would be very grateful for any recommendations.
Android / iPhone / desktop.
Anything other than Signal seems unadvisable from a privacy POV. Do you have a way of talking to them live on the phone, at the same time? You can try and register their Signal on a burner phone wherever you are. As they sign up, you sit on the call and give them the phone number and security code when it comes through. Unless having Signal on the phone is itself a reason to get arrested in Russia, which frankly wouldn’t surprise me either.
I don’t know if this will work. I did it on a different service using the number on a dumbphone to register for use on a tablet once.