One may wonder what the point of adding these is to an e2e messaging app, but I would contend that you don't want your messaging app to get into the same predicament as PGP where mere use of the app is considered suspicious.

You would also prefer it if your friends used this app so that you could communicate with them and not have to spend forever convincing them.

I am a Signal user, but as e2e crypto has moved into more mainstream services such as WhatsApp, and even Facebook's Messenger I've stopped trying to convince friends to install Signal since it's easier to just initiate private chats in these popular messengers.

Interesting concept (using the Signal server as relay/vpn-like).

But honestly, I don't care about sending GIFs and I want a messaging service (especially a privacy-oriented) to be as sleek as possible. Additions like these just seem to increase the attack surface.

This seems like system creep to me. Also, Giphy hasn't figured out a way to bring in revenue, knowing the history of these kind of services they will probably soon collect user data anyway to sell to advertisers.

I would be more a fan of static sticker packs, like Apple has introduced in their messaging app. Maybe even have independent artists make them instead of copyrighted content. Would fit more the philosophy of Whisper Systems in my opinion.

I agree that this is rather useless. I have given up on Facebook and Whatsapp and what I am missing most is the double checkmarks when a message has been delivered / read, as well as attaching any kind of file to a message.

That being said, I use Signal extensively and have convinced some people to use it as well. It's an important piece of software to me.