Comment by crossroadsguy
4 months ago
Even now, when I see Briar's name anywhere, I think of this as "ah, that Android only app" and that imho is saying something for a privacy messaging app. I am not saying it has not reason (Apple's unsound, unfair, and consumer hostile tight control is the reason! [1]) to be Android only, I am just saying - it's very unfortunate and unfortunately defeating.
[1] In the name of privacy theatre which they have actually been able to defend by spending both on PR and lawyers.
The simple fact that you generally need to have Apple hardware to make iOS apps is a reason enough
Looks like a lot of it is JVM based, which makes it hard for iOS since they disallow running JITs.
iOS vs Android is a bit like ChromeOS vs Windows/MacOS/most Linux distros.
There are benefits to more restrictive operating systems. For example, iOS not allowing apps to run in the background essentially stops any apps with malware from doing stuff in the background, but it also stops apps like Briar, Syncthing, etc, from working well.
I assume Android isn't a problem for most Briar's users. They're likely running a deGoogled Android version (GrapheneOS, LineageOS, etc) and downloading/updating the app via F-Droid or something like that. They don't rely on Google (or Apple) to run anything.
The problem is the networking effect. Since so many people use iOS, even Android users often have to contact people on iOS devices, resulting in Briar likely remaining very niche.
Very few people in my country use iOS devices. Maybe 5%.
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Yup, from what I hear, the problem is Apple doesn't allow process forking which means Tor would have to run inside the same process as the messaging app which is ridiculous.
I always think "Ah, that one E2EE chat app that made a cameo on Mr. Robot"