Librem 5 Signal app -- newbie

Hardware Librem 5
62

I recommend making the left pane with the contacts smaller. I did that in convergence mode with a mouse.

BTW: audio calls via Signal work well on my L5.

1 Like
63

Installed it today in a Docker container: I was able to register using it and then link Flare to it on the Librem 5 :partying_face:

And Flare seems to working reasonably well, so count me happy.

64

how do you get flare to work? i just keep getting the libsecret error.

1 Like
65

I didnā€™t encounter that. I just installed the Flare 0.8.0 Flatpak from Flathub, launched it, used the QR code, and after a minute or so my contacts came up.

66

This is crazy I have now even set up the Librem5 with a new image. Again and again this error.
Currently I try it with the version from the Purism Flatpack, before I used the regular sources. Always the same error.

67

I took this approach in general as well. You can also download the apk separately, copy it to the librem 5 device Downloads folder (i.e. scp [APK_PATH] purism@[IPADDRESS]:~/Downloads), and then run the following to install it on the emulated android running on Waydroid:

`waydroid app install [SIGNALFILENAME].apk

After itā€™s installed you need to copy a backup of your signal messages, created by using the ā€¦ > Settings > Chat backups > TURN ON

This generates a file on the android originally running Signal, which can then be copied to the phone (via ssh and scp). In order to get the file from the Librem 5 to the Librem 5 Waydroid emulator, I created a shared directory between the Librem 5 and the emulator by doing something like this:

sudo mount --bind ~/Documents/waydroid ~/.local/share/waydroid/data/media/0/Documents

From then on you can copy files to the waydroid emulator just by copying files into your local Documents/waydroid folder.

The cool thing about the waydroid approach is it gets you off the ground running various android apps while you simultaneously shift and adapt away from android apps to alternative solutions. It acts as a great temporary bridge between the two worlds.

2 Likes
68

Nice! I really like this approach as well - especially with the special touch of linking the WayDroid path with one in your home directory.

69

While trying to figure out how to get one of these to work I noticed on the elagost server [for Signal desktop flatpak] a nice little note that might interest some:

Tips & Tricks (click to expand)

  • Signal will be blurry on phosh (pinephone, Librem 5) becacuse of X11. To fix, run with wayland using these arguments: --use-gl=egl --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland. Signal must be opened at least once in X11/Xwayland first (just by clicking the launcher) first.
    ā€“> To add the above to the launcher shortcut: copy /var/lib/flatpak/app/org.signal.Signal/current/active/files/share/applications/org.signal.Signal.desktop to ~/.local/share/applications/ and change the Exec line to this: Exec=flatpak run org.signal.Signal --use-gl=egl --enable-features=UseOzonePlatform --ozone-platform=wayland
  • Use the View menu item to zoom out a few times. It makes Signal much less cramped.
  • Ctrl+Shift+c will close the current conversation and reduce idle CPU usage significantly.
    Notification sounds and mic/camera usage can be enabled in settings.

(havenā€™t tested)

4 Likes
70

Works like a charm!

1 Like
71

Can someone provide more detailed info on the signal-cli installation? The standalone doesnā€™t get past morph027 (apt canā€™t find it) and dockerā€¦ Itā€™s not working either (after installing docker there is no reaction to the command provided on the docs as itā€™s not recognized by bash). Not a lot of breadcrumbs to follow.

1 Like
72

+1000
I have tried the signal-cli link, leading to an ARM binary link with no explanation (the signal-cli file has no extension).
I have also tried to add the repo in order to make a classic sudo apt install signal-cli :

curl -s https://julianfairfax.gitlab.io/package-repo/pub.gpg | gpg --dearmor | sudo dd of=/usr/share/keyrings/julians-package-repo-archive-keyring.gpg

echo 'deb [ signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/julians-package-repo-archive-keyring.gpg ] https://julianfairfax.gitlab.io/package-repo/debs packages main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/julians-package-repo.list

ā€¦ without success. I have also tried to register via Axolotl from my laptop, but the registration code never come in the L5. Anyway, a true fight to register without android.

Please feel free to share a step by step tutorial if you succeeded. Thank you very much !

1 Like
73

Axolotl at least has a ticket that explains itā€™s not able to make the registration. Someone from here also confirmed the ticket with L5. So, thatā€™s not an option atm.

74
75

Thereā€™s a working version in the Manjaro? for Pinephone. Typical issues with window zoom and all that, but it does work. Now whether itā€™s a hop-skip-jump for someone to drag it over remains to be seen.

76

Iā€™d settle for some pointers but a proper how-to would also be nice. This is somewhat a central app communications method.

77

I see a lot of posts about this ā€œSignalā€ app.

What does it do, anyway? (Yes I can probably look it up, humor me.)

1 Like
78
1 Like
79

And this works well on the L5?
(Not that it works for me: I need the L5 to be the primary device, because I have never ownef an iphone or an android phone. But it would be nice.)

80

It is an encrypted messaging app that appears to not be compromised as of yetā€¦like Telegram sorta without the compromiseā€¦yetā€¦lol.

81

I think youā€™re referring to the protocol/service, as there are a few signal apps (with varying levels of usefulness in L5). Nothing is foolproof, because they just make better fools, as the saying goes. But for now, it would be useful to have - if only those who seem to have figured the process out would kindly share their insights of this poorly charted territory.

2 Likes