Link devices manually without QR

[ghost]

Problem: Only way to link devices is QR code.
Solution: Add text option to add device as backup.

Reason: My phones camera is broken(it won't focus). As a result I am unable to link signal desktop to my phone. If I hover over the QR on the desktop, I can see the text the QR Code contains in Signal Desktop. There are no changes required for Signal Desktop. I just would like a text field to enter it manually on my phone.

Thank you

[moxie0]

thanks but we're not going to do this

[ghost]

why?

[ghost]

@moxie0 , I would be grateful if this could be revisited. Here are two legitimate use cases in which, in order for the user to be able to link devices at all, it is essential that the user be able to do so without registering a QR code via the camera from within the Signal app:

1. The user has an Android device that is fine in all respects except that it does not possess a working camera, for example because:
   • the device was manufactured that way; or
   • the camera has become faulty; or
   • the user intentionally removed/disabled the camera, e.g. for privacy.
2. The user's Android device possesses a working camera, but that camera is not available within Signal, for example because:
   • a bug of some kind (e.g. in Signal or Android) is preventing Signal from accessing the camera; or
   • the user has intentionally prevented Signal from accessing the camera (e.g. via Privacy Guard), e.g. for privacy.

I find myself facing the second use case. As far as I can tell, no software that I have configured should be preventing Signal from accessing the camera. Nevertheless, when I go to Settings > Linked devices > +, there is a black box with rounded corners in place of what I assume is supposed to be a view from the camera. (And, perhaps relatedly, if I click on the camera icon that is displayed at the far right of the text field for new messages (i.e. just to the left of the paperclip icon), I get a "Camera unavailable" message like this.) The AOSP Camera app works fine, however.

It doesn't bother me at all that the camera isn't available to Signal (I have no general desire for Signal to access the camera), except that this is preventing me from trying out Signal in Chromium.

Being able to manually link devices without needing a camera would address the use cases above, and would therefore also solve my problem :)

Thanks!

[anadodik]

Hi, I am currently prevented from using the app because of this. Are there any updates on the situation?

[Trolldemorted]

You can use signal-cli as the master device, and link slaves via a tsdevice link

[anadodik]

Could you maybe elaborate more on how to do that exactly?

[moxie0]

Seems like this is a real problem for people. I'd like it if we could fix the camera problems, but if we can't, this is probably the only alternative.

[anadodik]

Thanks for reopening it! I hope it gets fixed sometime soon. I think a text-box to manually enter the QR code (or some shorter code) could do the trick, no?

[Trolldemorted]

@demonFudgePies signal-cli can run as a slave or as a master device. If you register it as your master, you can link slaves to it by executing
signal-cli -u YOURPHONENUMBER addDevice --uri "tsdevice:/…"

You can copy Signal-Desktop's tsdevice link when you enable chrome's developer mode, open Signal-Desktop's index.html and browse through the element tree to the qrcode.

Vanilla-Signal-Android cannot (yet) run as a slave, but if you build my experimental branch yourself it can. Just click on cancel when it wants your number, and grab the tsdevice link from logcat or scan the qrcode. Please note that the branch is not yet fit to get merged as there are still some issues i have to get rid of, and i am working on it only when i have some free time available.

[veeara282]

@moxie0, see #5276.

[unhammer]

@Trolldemorted does your solution involve having signal-cli as the master, and phone + chrome-extension as slaves? (I'd prefer keeping my broken-camera-phone as master so I can run the official client)

[Trolldemorted]

@unhammer yes, i am running a cli master and android slave.

[unhammer]

as an alternate solution, how about allowing to use the front camera?

[skom91]

#5538 would be a great solution.

[dunk]

This has bitten me, too. I have a temporary phone - a very cheap Motorola - an the camera can't read the QR code, so I can't set up the new signal desktop app. You really need a fallback option because you can't know that in all cases someone will be able to get the camera to work, and at the moment this is a very bad usability issue.

[pappasadrian]

I had to remove the cameras from my phone due to legal issues (military related), so I am affected by this issue too. An alternative would be to be able to scan a QR code off the phone's screen using the computer's camera, or just the code in manually, even though that might be a nuisance.

[automated-signal]

GitHub Issue Cleanup:
See #7598 for more information.