Comment by akprasad

2 years ago

I just donated $10 to Signal. Here's how to do so on iPhone in less than a minute:

1. Open Signal and click on your user icon in the upper left.

2. Go to "Settings" --> "Donate to Signal".

3. Click "Donate", select your donation options, and pay with Apple Pay.

I’ve got a recurring donation of $5/mo I set up ages ago

  • Me too! Set it up once and forget. I love their work and Unlike any other charity/nonprofit that I've donated to, they never bother me any further.

  • > I’ve got a recurring donation of $5/mo I set up ages ago

    Thanks for that, I did a one off 300 euro donation back in '21 during the bubble market; Meredith has been doing the rounds [0] and she hits on lots of good points, and even went to the UK over their now failed bill during the Summer.

    0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykfABSBeAVo

Does this entail a 30% cut to Apple/Google?

I had an old Apple Store & iTunes gift card laying around so I redeemed it and attempted to use it to donate via Apple Pay, but get "Apple Account - Not enabled for in app payments". Google isn't very helpful about exactly why. Am I missing some KYC somewhere or are payments of this type prohibited from "Apple Account" balances?

Also a reminder, your work might have a donation matching system. All the major tech companies do, so you can really boost your effect.

I guess maybe I'm missing the purported point of signal, attaching your phone number to use it notwithstanding, but attaching payment identity to it as well? Like, what's the point of going through the pain required to use it?

  • Most people using Signal - and particularly most people likely to donate - are not using it to hide their identities, but to decrease the chance of unknown parties reading their conversations. My Signal account has my full name on it, and checking my top contacts, most of them do too (some only have their first name).

  • > I guess maybe I'm missing the purported point of signal, attaching your phone number to use it notwithstanding, but attaching payment identity to it as well? Like, what's the point of going through the pain required to use it?

    Your payment info is not connected to your account.

    https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360031949872-Do...

    • The suggestion here is to use your iPhone to pay through Apple Pay.

      Does Apple have any records connecting your recurring Apple Pay payment to your iPhone's phone number?

      1 reply →

There doesn't seem to be a way to pay annually, which I'd prefer to a monthly payment. £5/month is just a little high, but I'd merrily pay half that or £30/year.

  • If you really need a lower tier, you can switch currencies to JPY, there's a monthly option for 500JPY which is about 2.67GBP.

Thanks for the suggestion; I just signed up for the $5/month plan. I have been using Signal for years, but never considered donating anything before.