<story><title>Signal Desktop beta now publicly available</title><url>https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal-desktop-public/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Sephr</author><text>Signal Desktop has a standalone registration UI that works perfectly fine in the source (&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;WhisperSystems&amp;#x2F;Signal-Desktop&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;WhisperSystems&amp;#x2F;Signal-Desktop&lt;/a&gt;), but this hidden feature has been entirely removed from this version.&lt;p&gt;Here is a convoluted process that will allow you to register with any SMS-capable phone number, no Android app required:&lt;p&gt;First, install the Signal GitHub repo (unzip &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;WhisperSystems&amp;#x2F;Signal-Desktop&amp;#x2F;archive&amp;#x2F;master.zip&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;github.com&amp;#x2F;WhisperSystems&amp;#x2F;Signal-Desktop&amp;#x2F;archive&amp;#x2F;mas...&lt;/a&gt;) unpacked in Chrome, inspect the background page and enter `extension.install(&amp;quot;standalone&amp;quot;)` in your console. Enter a phone number to get your verification code. Do not submit your registration using the standalone UI! Keep your verification code for use with the official app.&lt;p&gt;Next, uninstall the source app and install the official app. Inspect the background page and type this in your console: `getAccountManager().registerSingleDevice(&amp;quot;your phone number&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;verification code&amp;quot;)`. Don&amp;#x27;t forget to include your country code in your phone number (+...) and remove the dashes from your verification code, or you will probably get an error.&lt;p&gt;No idea why Open Whisper Systems felt that it was necessary to entirely remove this hidden UI, when it wasn&amp;#x27;t accessible through any of the standard UI anyways. The feature works completely fine (and has for months). The only purpose this removal seems to serve is to force users to install their mobile app.</text></comment>
<story><title>Signal Desktop beta now publicly available</title><url>https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal-desktop-public/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>click170</author><text>I just wish Signal was easier to get through a firewall.&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;You need to open TCP 31337 and &lt;i&gt;all UDP ports&lt;/i&gt; in order for Signal to work.&amp;quot; 
Emphasis mine.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;support.whispersystems.org&amp;#x2F;hc&amp;#x2F;en-us&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;213697218-Which-TCP-UDP-ports-need-to-be-available-&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;support.whispersystems.org&amp;#x2F;hc&amp;#x2F;en-us&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;21369721...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;When I first read that I was sure that must largely apply to the calling (voip) features, but testing showed me I was wrong. I couldn&amp;#x27;t even make messaging work through a firewall so now I sourly use Telegram instead (no private chats by default in telegram??).</text></comment>