Add an official badge to the Note To Self channel

[hackerbirds]

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• I have read the README and Contributor Guidelines
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Contributor checklist:

• My contribution is not related to translations.
• My commits are in nice logical chunks with good commit messages
• My changes are rebased on the latest main branch
• A yarn ready run passes successfully (more about tests here)
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Description

This PR adds an official badge to the "Note to Self" channel, as done on Android.

Without this badge, it is possible for a user to rename themselves "Note to Self", change their profile picture, and become indistinguishable with the legitimate channel. This is an issue, and I believe that it should be fixed on all platforms. Adding a badge helps users know which one is the real one.

This design change should also be helpful to those who rely on this channel a lot, because it makes it easier to see.

Screenshots

[hackerbirds]

I have slightly adjusted the badge to make it fit better. I have also manually checked that the element is displayed correctly at all zoom levels.

[hackerbirds]

I cleaned up the commits and rebased to v6.9.0.

[jamiebuilds-signal]

Thank you for opening this PR, it will be released soon

[4elta]

did a UI/UX expert review these changes before they went into production?
i doubt it.

the idea of protecting users from UI confusion is definitely a good one.
but you have to be very careful not to introduce a new one: confusing users into thinking they have unread messages.

until now, you could have kept the Signal app window visible on the screen (think of a large 4K display) and worked in another app.
the blue badge acted as a simple/gentle nudge: "hey, you have some unread messages."

by choosing the "verified" badge to be the same color as the unread message indicator, along with the location of that badge, the user is "tricked" into thinking they have unread messages every time their eyes glance over to the Signal app,
this is how perception works.

i ask you to improve this generally good idea by making the following changes (either one, or preferably both):

• change the color of the "verified" badge (to grey or some other unobtrusive color)
• move the badge to the bottom right, slightly overlapping the profile picture (similar to the badge you get for donating to Signal)

best regards

[spacesynth]

I actually searched for posts about people not approving of this change. Especially for people with visual impairments the icons look just the same: Blue circle like object with some grey number or checkmark in it. The slight offset doesn't help because peripheral vision in humans just detects the presence and not the exact location.

It certainly is a nice change if there was an option to rename the trusted contact and change or replace the icon along with it. Since I control the names of the contacts on my device there is little reason to worry anyway I use a wrong contact for "Note to self".

@4elta
Might want to make a fresh issue out of this unless Jamie recognizes the problem and proposes a change.

[hackerbirds]

Hey (disclaimer, I do not work for Signal or know anyone there, I did this PR on my free time),

I suggested this change because this is how Signal Android has it currently for months now. I'm sorry if you disagree with this design. However I agree that there could be other ways to make it look less confusing. On desktop the notification circle looks quite similar to the badge, this might not be as much of a problem on Android.

move the badge to the bottom right, slightly overlapping the profile picture (similar to the badge you get for donating to Signal)

I personally like this idea, unfortunately any design change like this one would have to be approved by the Signal team, which I can't help you with. I saw you opened an issue, hopefully things improve for everyone. Have a nice day

[hackerbirds]

I did find one problem with that solution...
It would look like this, I think it looks quite nice:

But this design makes it a lot easier to impersonate:

So, maybe not optimal. Likewise, changing to a simple checkmark without the blue colour around it might be easily impersonated with just a "✓" unicode character next to Note to Self.

[4elta]

thank you @hackerbirds for your reply and especially for your work.
i also appreciate that you tested the proposed changes and showed that they weren't optimal.

Since I control the names of the contacts on my device there is little reason to worry anyway I use a wrong contact for "Note to self".
--@spacesynth

this made me think, because you (@spacesynth) are absolutely right.
it has always bothered me that i can name contacts/groups but apparently not the Note to Self chat.

so this morning i decided to try something i have stumbled upon while researching how other messengers provide the "notes to self" functionality:

1. create a new group with only myself as a member
2. give the group a name and picture of my choosing
3. pin the chat so it's easy to find (and less like to be confused with a "fake" one)
4. archive the official/original Note to Self chat

this is how i would have always preferred it 😎

best regards

[spacesynth]

@4elta
Creating a solo group as replacement certainly is a nice way! I'll definitely utilize it and will even make several groups by topic, which expands usability beyond just the single standard "Note to self". I can have "work notes", "secret appointments" and more. Many calendar apps are not private (enough), especially for visits to doctors and more. I'll be honest, I don't trust my Xiaomi factory apps.