Does anyone have any experience in successfully self-hosting Signal server using docker?
Thanks in advance.
Does signal allow self hosting? Unless we are thinking of different things called Signal.
Signal is not a federated protocol, though. I guess you can run that server code. But it won’t connect you to your friends and people on the regular Signal network. (Plus you’d also need to build a custom version of the client/app.)
I actually don’t want to run it on regular signal network. Just want to self-host it on my home server, and allow home devices to use it to communicate via tailscale.
Basically my own private signal network that my devices connected to.
Seems like SimpleX might already do what you’re looking for.
I had a quick look and seems there have been some projects packaging the Signal server for Docker… But the projects Google returns as results on the first page all seem to be abandoned. Seems this is a bit niche. Unfortunaltely I don’t have any good advice here. I run a Matrix server, so I don’t have experience with this.
Sounds like a job for XMPP
shrug or they want to use it as a private server, couldn’t tell you.
Just pointing to the server source as you can run the server self hosted.
This doesn’t answer OP’s question, but is more of a PSA for anyone that seeks to self-host the backend of an E2EE messaging app: only proceed if you’re willing and able to upkeep your end of the bargain to your users. In the case of Signal, the server cannot decrypt messages when they’re relayed. But this doesn’t mean we can totally ignore where the server is physically located, nor how users connect to it.
As Soatok rightly wrote, the legal jurisdiction of the Signal servers is almost entirely irrelevant when the security model is premised on cryptographic keys that only the end devices have. But also:
They [attackers] can surely learn metadata (message length, if padding isn’t used; time of transmission; sender/recipients). Metadata resistance isn’t a goal of any of the mainstream private messaging solutions, and generally builds atop the Tor network. This is why a threat model is important to the previous section.
So if you’re going to be self-hosting from a country where superinjunctions exist or the right against unreasonable searches is being eroded, consider that well before an agent with a wiretap warrant demands that you attach a logger for “suspicious” IP addresses.
If you do host your Signal server and it’s only accessible through Tor, this is certainly an improvement. But still, you must adequately inform your users about what they’re getting into, because even Tor is not fully resistant to deanonymization, and then by the very nature of using a non-standard Signal server, your users would be under immediate suspicion and subject to IRL side-channel attacks.
I don’t disagree with the idea of wanting to self-host something which is presently centralized. But also recognize that the network effect with Signal is the same as with Tor: more people using it for mundane, everyday provides “herd immunity” to those most vulnerable in society.
If you do proceed, don’t oversell what you cannot provide, and make sure your users are fully abreast of this arrangement and they fully consent. This is not targeted at OP, but anyone that hasn’t considered the things above needs to pause before proceeding.
You cannot selfhost Signal, because the regular app won’t connect to your server. You could probably bridge it to Matrix I guess? I’m pretty sure it’s a thing, but I see little benefit here, besides your phone not connecting to Signal and your messages being collected in one app, if you so desire.
I though Signal Android client is open source and I can changed the server url if I can get server selfhosted.
@KarnaSubarna are you referring to a selfhost signal proxy instead ?
Nope, the server itself.
