I finally started using Molly to send and receive messages via Signal. Molly is a hardened fork of Signal for Android, offering features such as an encrypted message database, automatic locking, shredding no longer needed secrets from RAM, notifications via UnifiedPush, and Tor / SOCKS proxy support. This is by no means an alternative to Signal itself, but rather an alternative (and hardened) Android client for Signal. While these extra security features are great, my main motivation to use Molly was battery saving, actually. I’m on GrapheneOS, which does offer sandboxed Google Play (opt-in), yet I’ve chosen not to use it. This means I’m not using Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) for notifications either, which Signal by default heavily relies on. However, it continues to make me very glad I can still use a secure and open source mobile operating system (GrapheneOS) in 2025, without needing to rely on proprietary and privacy-impairing functionality.

When not using Google Play services (e.g. GrapheneOS, LineageOS users), Signal can be a real battery drain. Molly with UnifiedPush on the other hand is extremely battery efficient.

Here’s how to set this up, using Nextcloud as the UnifiedPush provider.

  • UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Keyboard and mouse input for the phone is a gamechanger for me. Having a manipulatable window that I can drag and drop files to is super nice as well.

    Also since Slay the Spire doesn’t have cross-saving and all my progress is on my phone I can play it without staring at my phone.

    • Victor@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      I guess I don’t really have a reason to access my phone via my computer. Everything I use has a desktop interface — Signal, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Telegram, my radio app, my podcasts app, Spotify, etc.

      But it’s good to have alternatives if something comes up! Thanks for the tip!