Molly advertises itself as a “hardened version of Signal,” & its FOSS variant is the same without proprietary dependencies. TwinHelix’s FOSS Signal fork goes further, adding OSM support instead of GMaps. Are these forks trustworthy, & are they worth using for added security compared to mainline?
My biggest problem is the delayed updates, which I don’t think they add enough to justify using imo. I think the base Signal itself already has excellent privacy, it can be used for notifications without Google Play Services (which I do myself), which works great. I haven’t used any maps features so not sure how that compares. I’ve never seen it make any connections to Google in my usage. I’d just stick to the main Signal so you’re getting updates as soon as possible. With these apps, you’re just adding another trusted party, and delaying updates, which can decrease security.