feature: Use App Stores for Desktop app distribution/updates

[kelkarajay]

Bug Description

Steps to Reproduce

N/A

Actual Result:

App is updated/serviced independently

Expected Result:

Besides the out of store download/update channels, it will be nice for users to be able to download/update the Desktop via App Store channels

1. Mac App Store
2. Microsoft Store
3. Ubuntu Snaps?

Screenshots

N/A

Platform Info

1. Windows
2. MacOS
3. Linux

Signal Version:

Applicable to all versions

Operating System:

1. Windows
2. MacOS
3. Linux

Linked Device Version:

N/A

Link to Debug Log

N/A

[rcbevans]

There are guides, and tooling, available for generating .appx packages for submission to the Microsoft Store. https://www.electronjs.org/docs/tutorial/windows-store-guide.

[dtantono]

Signal is available in snap (https://snapcraft.io/signal-desktop) and I think the new feature for Linux should be install or search the signal directly from APT repository without adding signing key and external repositories to make it simpler and faster. i.e: sudo apt install signal-desktop or sudo apt search signal-desktop

[BirdInFire]

What about this feature ? i knowed signal was not available on microsoft store (it's pretty recent), but on the mac app store i'm a little disappointed !!

[EvanHahn-Signal]

This feature is on our radar. No need to follow up. Thanks for keeping the pressure on.

[BirdInFire]

@EvanHahn-Signal it's a good thing but i don't really understand why it doesn't pass the state "is on our radar" is there any difficulty (or some of the dev who don't want it).
We can understand it's discussed in the team and it's why it's not already done (for mac os you already have a dev account since you have it on IOS).
Again i don't want to pressure just understand.

[BirdInFire]

Any news on this ? @EvanHahn-Signal

[EvanHahn-Signal]

No updates. This is still on our radar.

[BirdInFire]

you can be more honest by saying someone don't want to check that for now, or we are too busy on other project, we will tell you when/or si someone do it.
Because these term : "on our radar", "we discuss in intern" it generally means nobody actually do anything about it (I'm in development industry I know pretty well these "public" term (do not forget GitHub is mostly used by professional dev rather than community so here we can accept a no or don't work on it (unlike on social network))).

[hiqua]

@Macqael see for instance #1655 (comment)

[BirdInFire]

@Macqael see for instance #1655 (comment)

yes I know I was talking about this post, (because "it's on our radar" it's king of annoying to read month (year in some case) after the initial post, so it's like that I ask here more a "we don't have time actually for this", than a "it's on our radar" 👍

[hiqua]

There are already many threads on the forum if you want to discuss this.

[merlijn-sebrechts]

Hi @EvanHahn-Signal, I'm part of Snapcrafters, the group that maintains Signal Desktop in the Snap Store. We're happy to work with the Signal developers if you're interested in turning this into an official distribution. One of the goals of the Snap store was to enable developers to push Linux apps directly to users.

The Snap Store is installed by default on Ubuntu, Manjaro and a few other distributions. It's also available on a number of other distros. The Signal Desktop snap has ~60.000 weekly active users. You can find the source of the snap here: https://github.com/snapcrafters/signal-desktop/

Feel free to contact us if/when you're interested.

[BirdInFire]

@galgalesh don't loose your time, it's literally years that some ask store version on Mac/Windows, and the only answer we have for now is "it's on our radar", so continue to maintain it, because it seems they are not really ready to do that for now (I don't know why).

Note : I'm a dev I know it's not easy to maintain a software, but I don't understand why signal prefer update the interface of their app than take some week to push the app on store for pc/linux and mac to reduce the possibility of malware hide themselves as signal.

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[tobiaswittenburg]

Still an important feature

[gitmixen]

What is the way to reopen this issue?
Signal doesn’t need to change anything in their existing app on Windows to be in Store, they just need to publish it there, that’s it!
Just take existing .exe file from here (https://signal.org/download/windows), add icon and description and submit to Microsoft Store (see step-by-step guidance and video here - https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-store/desktop-apps)

All popular social apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, WeChat, Kakao talk and others are available in Windows Store. It’s a pity users can’t get Signal there.

I've also found a feature request for this but it was not any update for more than a year - https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-desktop-app-on-the-microsoft-store/4151/35

@josh-signal , @scottnonnenberg, @scottnonnenberg-signal are you the right person to route this request? Please let me know

[DeinPsychiater]

Please can you reopen? We have already discussed a lot about it, there are only advantages and to implement it is just a click.

https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-desktop-app-on-the-microsoft-store/4151/38

And:

https://community.signalusers.org/t/signal-in-the-mac-app-store/14992

[jamiebuilds-signal]

We do not track feature requests in GitHub issues, please see the community forum: https://community.signalusers.org/