[lightcatcher]

Yes.

There is no way to move messages from one iOS device to another (such as a new phone). My girlfriend recently got a new iPhone and wanted to transfer our Signal message history from her old iPhone onto the new one. She said it wasn't possible, and then I spent an hour or two reading about it figuring there must be some hacky awful way to accomplish it. I couldn't find one. This has been an open issue for years [0][1].

Android has an inconvenient backup flow (that involves randomly generated 30 digit PIN and manual transfer of file), but that's infinitely better than the total lack of options on iOS. I do wish Android (and iOS) had a method to download all message history to decrypted plaintext (or JSON) for use with other apps. If I own my data, decrypting it should be my choice.

I regret recommending to my girlfriend that we use Signal, and won't recommend Signal to more people after this.

[0] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/issues/2542 [1] https://whispersystems.discoursehosting.net/t/ios-backup-kee...