Not possible to add photos in Signal when iOS "limited access" is enabled

[itsamemarkus]

Bug description

When having limited access for Signal enabled, you can not select new photos that Signal should have access to within the Signal app. You have to enter privacy settings each time.

Technical details about Limited Access:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/photokit/delivering_an_enhanced_privacy_experience_in_your_photos_app

Steps to reproduce

• only allow limited access for photos when Signal asks for it initially (or enable limited access via privacy settings later)
• Create new message
• Photos button

Actual result: no photos (or only the manually selected ones via settings) are displayed and there is no option to add photos.

Expected result: Signal shows system prompt with photos to select that Signal should have access to. This is example on how this looks with Strava

I think it would be nice if this would work more easily with a privacy centric app.

Device info

Device: iPhone 15 Pro

iOS version: 17.5.1

Signal version: 7.17 (171)

[thiborose]

I agree, I think enabling private access would be a huge improvement. Is there any plan to implement this?

[seanwertheim]

After pressing the Plus button from within a chat, you can scroll to the right in the view that shows the photos, tap the "Manage" button, and add more photos you want Signal to have access to there, then send the photo.

[jamesdrake101]

I don't understand why someone might want anything other than "Private access", which is basically a photo/media picker kindly provided by the OS. Perfect user experience, perfect privacy. Total no brainer.

"Limited access" is laborious and awkward, "Full access" is just too intrusive.

Whatsapp supports all photo access modes.

[zoltrons]

I agree with @jamesdrake101. Whatsapp has this feature and works perfectly fine.

[stale[bot]]

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.

[antijingoist]

Requiring photos permissions on iOS is optional for accessing photos and saving photos. Expected Signal would work with Photo Library Access set to None.

The little carousel is cute, but I'd prefer not having that feature, and instead using the built-in iOS methods of accessing and saving media to ensure only what I want accessed is accessed.

[WeeJeWel]

I agree that this should be the default for a privacy-first messaging app.

[AmeliaHuang325]

Cannot agree more. It is not convenient to select new images and send them each time.

[sashaweiss-signal]

Hi, we've made significant improvements in this space recently, such that it's a lot easier to adjust the limited access for the recent-photo strip as well as to pick photos using the modal picker.

I'm going to close this issue as a result. Thanks as always for being Signal users!

[jamesdrake101]

Hi, we've made significant improvements in this space recently, such that it's a lot easier to adjust the limited access for the recent-photo strip as well as to pick photos using the modal picker.

When is this going to be released? My Signal on iOS still demands that I give at least Limited Access rather than Private Access and a modal picker - which is the only thing which makes sense for me.

Thanks.

[itsamemarkus]

I really appreciate the efforts. It got way better than before. Especially having the Manage button very accessible.

But I still don't get why it's there at all. The photo picker on iOS with private access enabled it very good out of the box. The Signal photo selection is very limited, just a small part of the screen to scroll through recent photos (which aren't there with Limited Access enabled.

With the native iOS picker you can scroll through all your pictures and easily go to your collections and favorites.

With the current Signal implementation there are unnecessary steps:

Native picker:

• +
• Photos
• select photo

Signal picker

• +
• Manage
• Select More Photos
• Select photo
• Done
• Select photo in Signal

What's wrong with this? (Except the pictures of my mouse cable)

[jamesdrake101]

Why is this so hard.

[haileys]

Hi, we've made significant improvements in this space recently, such that it's a lot easier to adjust the limited access for the recent-photo strip as well as to pick photos using the modal picker.

Thanks @sashaweiss-signal, this is a good improvement.

Still, ideally Signal should support the native iOS photo picker. There's fewer taps and it's more convenient to attach photos this way.

Check out the Toot! app (a mastodon client for iOS) for a good example of how well the native OS photo picker can work.

As a privacy first app, Signal should be setting the bar for other apps and raising user expectations. Privacy doesn't need to be less convenient than the alternatives, but right now it is, and it's a missed opportunity.

[sashaweiss-signal]

I should've been more explicit. We have already made changes, rolling out in an upcoming release, to use the native photo picker.

[paulmillr]

@sashaweiss-signal it's been ~6 months. Did the change get rolled back? I still see useless signal image picker which forces to do 5 additional taps instead of none if a native was used.

Photo attached. imessage got a proper "native thumbnails" image picker, without all this mess.

[zoltrons]

@sashaweiss-signal it's been ~6 months. Did the change get rolled back? I still see useless signal image picker which forces to do 5 additional taps instead of none if a native was used.

Photo attached. imessage got a proper "native thumbnails" image picker, without all this mess.

No, it still on the app. You have to press Photos to open native image picker.

[paulmillr]

@zoltrons well it’s still useless. Why require 7 taps when 2 will do?

Signal is privacy-friendly. It’s expected it would be also friendly to limited photo library access.

The guide here describes in depth how to use privacy-friendly carousel properly. https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2023/10107/