Comment by vel0city
2 years ago
When my phone gets turned off I get a signal can't connect error message on the current desktop app. I don't know if that's just how my account and desktop app is linked, but that's my current experience.
2 years ago
When my phone gets turned off I get a signal can't connect error message on the current desktop app. I don't know if that's just how my account and desktop app is linked, but that's my current experience.
The Desktop app is definitely independent from your primary device, once it's been linked. The WhatsApp desktop app used to require a connection to your phone, but even they updated it recently to the same architecture as Signal, where each device connects directly to the server.
If you don't open the Desktop app for a few weeks though, there is a "syncing" step where it fetches the recent messages queue from the server (can't remember the exact number, might be the last 1000 messages or all messages from the last 30 days or something similar).
Oh huh, that is weird - I can use Signal Desktop even with my phone turned off, that I am certain of.
Actually, I retract my earlier statement. I just successfully sent a message on Signal while my phone was turned off. I'm not sure when that changed or if its different on other machines, but I've definitely seen the yellow warning of not being available to send messages on a different computer in the past month or two.