Molly Signal Is Your Privacy Upgrade

You know that nagging feeling when you're using a privacy-focused app, but still wonder how it really handles your data? I've been there, for sure. Especially on projects where we really needed things to be super private and trustworthy. A few years back, we were building a secure chat part for a healthcare platform. Signal was our usual pick, but its standard app had some quirks we wanted more control over.

See, the regular Signal app, even with all its end-to-end encryption, still relies on Google Play Services (or Apple Push Notification Service) for notifications. And by default, it uses Google Drive for encrypted backups. For a project handling sensitive patient info, even just the mention or presence of these hooks was a big no-no. Our compliance team flagged it right away. We needed something totally on its own, easy to check, and that didn't rely on big companies' cloud stuff at all. My tech lead put it perfectly during a sprint review: "If we can't audit every part of the data flow, we can't ship it." That really hit home.

We first tried to 'make it tougher' – looking at custom phone software (ROMs) and blocking network stuff. But honestly, it felt like we were just sticking plasters on a design choice, not actually solving the problem. It was like trying to get an old system to run natively on a new mac mini without just rewriting it – way too much effort for too little gain. We even thought about running our own Signal server parts, but the work involved just for the client-side privacy gains wasn't worth it for that specific module.

That's when I stumbled upon Molly.im, an enhanced version of Signal. I saw it pop up on HackerNews recently – and for good reason. Molly offers proper Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) notification options, mainly UnifiedPush. Crucially, it stops you from relying on proprietary cloud services for backups and notifications. This was exactly what we needed! It fixes those underlying worries, giving you true control over your messaging experience. It's like moving from a database someone else manages to one you run yourself; you gain control and don't depend on outside stuff so much.

How to Level Up Your Signal Privacy with Molly

Moving to Molly isn't just about installing an app; it's a way to make your messages way safer and totally yours. Here's a walkthrough based on my experience, including some 'gotchas' I've hit.

1. Prerequisites

Before we start, let's make sure you've got a few things ready:

* Android Phone: Molly is just for Android phones. I've tested this a lot on my Pixel 6 running Android 14, but it generally works well on Android 10+ devices. The more Google-free your phone is (like with GrapheneOS or CalyxOS), the better Molly works.

* Basic F-Droid Knowledge: You'll be installing apps outside the Google Play Store, so knowing a bit about F-Droid and enabling 'install from unknown sources' is helpful. Don't worry, I'll walk you through it.

* Internet Connection: For downloads and setup, obviously.

* Time: Set aside about 30-45 minutes for a smooth setup. Maybe a bit longer if you have a huge chat history to restore or if you hit any snags. My first time, it took me nearly an hour because I was overthinking the UnifiedPush setup.

2. Tools or Requirements Needed

* Current Signal App: You'll need this installed at first, just to make a backup.

* F-Droid Client: Version 1.18.0 or newer is recommended for the best experience with adding app lists.

* Optional ADB: For fancy backup/restore operations, especially if you're moving from a really custom phone setup. I often use adb pull for moving large files off devices when I'm developing.

3. Step-by-Step Instructions

Okay, let's get this done. Follow these steps carefully, especially the backup part!

##### Step 1: Backup Your Current Signal Data (CRITICAL!)

This is super important, seriously. If you skip this, you will lose your chat history. I almost shot myself in the foot once when moving to a new phone for a client project; forgot this step, lost about six months of chat history. Total facepalm moment during our internal testing phase.

* Pro tip: For really large backups or if you're doing something special, you might want to pull the backup file to your computer using ADB:

adb pull /sdcard/Signal/Backups/your_backup_file_name.backup .

Replace your_backup_file_name.backup with the actual file. This command usually takes 2-5 minutes depending on backup size.

##### Step 2: Uninstall Official Signal

This is important to stop problems and make sure Molly can register correctly. Don't just disable it; fully uninstall the official Signal app from your device.

* From my experience: I had weird notification issues on my old OnePlus 7 Pro because I didn't fully remove the old app. It caused phantom notifications and general weird system behaviour. Just uninstall it properly.

##### Step 3: Install F-Droid

If you don't already have F-Droid, you'll need it. It's the best place for free and open-source Android apps.

* Pro tip: Always check the F-Droid download URL and maybe even the APK hash if you're super paranoid. A friend of mine almost installed a dodgy version once. Security is about layers, right? This step takes about 2-3 minutes.

##### Step 4: Add Molly F-Droid Repository

Molly isn't in F-Droid's main list of apps, so you need to add its official one.

##### Step 5: Install Molly

Now for the main event!

This step usually takes 1-2 minutes, depending on your internet speed.

##### Step 6: Restore Your Backup

Once Molly is installed, open it up.

##### Step 7: Configure UnifiedPush (Optional but Highly Recommended)

This is where Molly really stands out if you care about privacy. UnifiedPush lets you get notifications without needing Google Play Services.

This is the real magic. No Google Play Services dependency for notifications. When our API hit 100k requests/day for a different project, relying on GSF for notifications felt like a single point of failure and a privacy leak. UnifiedPush provides strong, spread-out options. Setting this up adds another 5-10 minutes, but it's worth it.

4. Common Mistakes to Avoid

I've seen (and made) these errors countless times:

* Forgetting to back up: Seriously, I can't stress this enough. If you don't have that 30-word passphrase, your chats are gone. No amount of adb shell magic will get them back.

* Not fully uninstalling Signal: This leads to weird notification conflicts and things just acting weird. Just get rid of it properly.

* Using an outdated F-Droid client: Sometimes older F-Droid versions have trouble updating app lists or installing apps. Keep it current.

* Ignoring UnifiedPush: If privacy and going Google-free are your main goals, don't skip this. It's what makes Molly special. One of my biggest mistakes was not properly documenting the UnifiedPush setup for our new hires. We had a guy spend 3 hours trying to figure out why his notifications weren't coming through.

5. Troubleshooting Section

Things rarely go perfectly the first time, right? Here are some common issues and their fixes:

* Notifications not working:

* Check your phone's battery saving settings for Molly and your UnifiedPush app. Android loves to put apps to sleep. After debugging for 6 hours once, turned out my ntfy.sh app was in deep sleep mode. Android's aggressive battery saving can be a nightmare.

* Make sure your UnifiedPush app is running and set up right. Sometimes it needs to be opened once after installation to get started.

* Check network permissions for Molly and the distributor. Maybe a firewall is blocking them.

* Backup restore failing:

* Double-check your 30-word passphrase. Typos are sneaky!

* Make sure the backup file is actually in the Internal storage/Signal/Backups folder and that Molly has storage permissions.

*