You can. But you’re not going to. Signal isn’t federated. Not only do you need to self host your own server, you need to build your own clients, and then have everybody you want to talk to using your specific clients talking to your specific server.
I’m not interested in running servers, in fact, my ISP doesn’t allow it anyway. I need something private that doesn’t ask for too much info off of me, and that’s why my solution was matrix, and not signal.
That’s my point. The phone number IS STILL required to create an account at Signal!
I see.
You can always run a self-hosted version of Signal or a fork of it, then you can do whatever you want with it, including not using phone numbers.
Wait, what?! You can self-host Signal? Please send me a guide!
You can. But you’re not going to. Signal isn’t federated. Not only do you need to self host your own server, you need to build your own clients, and then have everybody you want to talk to using your specific clients talking to your specific server.
Ah, yeah, of course :/ Will stick to my own XMPP server then.
I’m not interested in running servers, in fact, my ISP doesn’t allow it anyway. I need something private that doesn’t ask for too much info off of me, and that’s why my solution was matrix, and not signal.
most people don’t run servers from their house, but something like a cheap VPS or similar.