# Molly (Signal fork)

39 Hacker News commenters recommended Molly (Signal fork) and 20 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Security-hardened Android Signal fork with working push notifications without Google services. Main caveat: unofficial and maintained by one person, so updates can lag.

## Why people recommend it

- Works as a second Signal device (6 comments): "I use Molly as a secondary device (my tablet) but I never had an issue where it didn't work for weeks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690048)) "The Molly app is the only way I am able to use Signal on multiple devices." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46087613)) "Having Molly alongside the official Signal app was always the solution" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50317547))
- Works without Google push services (5 comments): "Allows you to avoid the insecure Google push notifications and keeps the proprietary Signal client more honest" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47718209)) "If you want reliable push notifications without FCM for Signal then you need the Molly fork of Signal" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50057314)) "it doesn't have the GCM crap and hence works on de-googlified custom ROMs as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46084053))
- UnifiedPush notification support (5 comments): "The killer feature for me is that molly-im also supports UnifiedPush for notifications" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46084128)) "using either FCM or the Molly fork with UnifiedPush" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50057275)) "Molly's UnifiedPush support works much better." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50057457))
- Adds security hardening over Signal (5 comments): "We have good relationships with a bunch of legitimate privacy and security projects including QubesOS, secureblue, Molly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47063867)) "fixes/improves several of those security regressions (and adds new security features, like wiping RAM on db lock)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46081720)) "Allows you to avoid the insecure Google push notifications and keeps the proprietary Signal client more honest" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47718209))

## What people warn about

- Android only (2 comments): "Molly is a security-hardened Signal client only on Android for people unfamiliar." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690035)) "I use Molly but it's only on Android" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49373801))
- Updates lag or stopped (2 comments): "Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50315906)) "Molly backups stopped working (probably due to lack of updates)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50319546))
- Loses connection or registration (2 comments): "Overnight it lost the device registration and will not contact the servers to re-register." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46082867)) "randomly lose its connection to signals servers and then fail to backup" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47708785))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Signal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/signal.md): 486 recommend
- [Bitchat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bitchat.md): 56 recommend
- [Element](https://hackerapproved.com/p/element.md): 50 recommend
- [Briar](https://hackerapproved.com/p/briar.md): 50 recommend
- [Delta Chat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/delta-chat.md): 48 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Molly (Signal fork)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/molly/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).