Signal-android: Proposal: GIPHY Support

Created on 13 Dec 2015 · 5Comments · Source: signalapp/Signal-Android

While Signal currently supports GIFs, it requires storing them on your local device (which is annoying). Since GIPHY has an API for searching GIFs, it should be plausible to implement a client-side feature where the client finds a GIF using GIPHY and then sends it without saving it locally (or temporarily saving it). The only issue I can see is that GIPHY would be told that a particular person is a Signal user.

Source

cyphar

Most helpful comment

I completely forgot I authored this issue. :wink:

cyphar on 6 Nov 2016

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Why is that annoying? They are at least encrypted there, and not open for any intelligence agency on some cloud server.

johanw666 on 13 Dec 2015

@johanw666 It's annoying because not everyone can stockpile sets of GIFs for every conversation they will ever have. Given the fact that Signal's purpose is not anonymity, I don't understand what you're talking about. The GIFs would be encrypted as normal, it's just that you could search and embed them within Signal. Sure, that means we'd have to poll to an API from the client telling them that we use Signal, but you're already telling Google about the fact you use Signal anyway.

cyphar on 13 Dec 2015

This has been implemented as of 69d0242574cc68b068afe3a00861e574b176f08b, so this issue can be closed.

The only issue I can see is that GIPHY would be told that a particular person is a Signal user.

This concern has been addressed in the implementation as well:

Since communication is done via TLS all the way to GIPHY, the Signal service never sees the plaintext contents of what is transmitted or received. Since the TCP connection is proxied through the Signal service, GIPHY doesn't know who issued the request.