Google-free fork. Original developer Moxie Marlinspike blocked server access. Abandoned May 2016.
Signal is an encrypted messaging application that uses the Signal Protocol for end-to-end encryption. LibreSignal aimed to replace Signal's dependency on Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) — Google's proprietary push notification service — with WebSocket connections, enabling the app to run on phones without Google Play Services. The fork also removed other Google-dependent components like Google Maps integration.
LibreSignal started from a simple premise: Signal is great encrypted messaging software, but it depends on Google Play Services, which means it won't work on de-Googled Android phones or custom ROMs without Google's proprietary framework. For privacy-conscious users — arguably Signal's core audience — this was a maddening irony. A group of developers forked Signal-Android to create LibreSignal, replacing Google Cloud Messaging (GCM) with WebSocket-based push notifications and removing other Google dependencies.
The project seemed like a natural extension of Signal's mission. It made encrypted messaging available to the most privacy-conscious users — those who had deliberately removed Google from their phones. But Signal's creator, Moxie Marlinspike, saw it differently. In May 2016, he asked LibreSignal to stop using Signal's servers and the Signal name.
Marlinspike's reasoning was practical but controversial. He argued that supporting third-party clients was complex and expensive, and that federation — allowing different clients to connect to the same servers — had previously 'degraded the UX for our users and held us back in the development process.' He estimated they had lost '6 months to a year of progress' from their earlier federation experiment with CyanogenMod. He wanted full control over the client experience.
On May 24, 2016, the LibreSignal project posted a single word: 'abandoned.' The developers had no viable alternative — without access to Signal's servers, a messaging app is just a pretty text editor. Marlinspike did acknowledge the need, saying he'd consider a 'clean, well written, and well tested' pull request for WebSocket support in the official app. Eventually, Signal did add support for running without Google Play Services. But LibreSignal's death crystallized a fundamental tension in privacy software: does the maintainer's right to control their infrastructure trump the community's right to modify open source software?
LibreSignal project begins as a Google-free fork of Signal-Android
Moxie Marlinspike requests LibreSignal stop using Signal servers and name
LibreSignal project abandoned
Signal begins adding support for running without Google Play Services
“Federation seriously degraded the UX for our users and held us back in the development process. I'd estimate that all told, we lost about 6 months to a year of progress.”
LibreSignal's death raised fundamental questions about the limits of open source software when the code depends on centralized infrastructure. You can fork the code, but you can't fork the servers — and for networked software, the servers are everything. This tension has influenced every subsequent debate about federated vs. centralized messaging protocols.
The incident also highlighted the paradox of Signal's position: a privacy-focused project that depends on Google's proprietary push notification infrastructure. While Signal eventually addressed this by adding WebSocket support, the LibreSignal episode damaged Signal's reputation among the hardest-core privacy advocates and fueled ongoing debates about whether Signal is truly committed to software freedom or merely to a specific vision of privacy under Marlinspike's control.