WhatsApp has been sharing data with Facebook since 2016, but users were able to opt-out and still use the app. That will no longer be possible after February 8. After the announcement was made, 7.5 million downloads of Signal took place over five days - a 4,200% increase.
Signal has become one of the most popular messaging apps around. Favored by tech giants, cybersecurity experts, journalists, government officials, and many more, Signal has gone from a darling secret of the security community to something even the non-tech savvy are using.
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Signal is known for its incredible security and wealth of features. On an internet where it seems that more and more businesses are trying to track you, Signal can keep all of your conversations private.
Here's how Signal works, and why it's so popular.
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How Signal works
Signal is safer and more secure than most messengers because of a process called "end-to-end encryption." This works by encoding a sender's message in such a way that only the intended receiver's device can unlock it.
Neither Signal, nor your phone company, nor the government can read your messages. That's why it's remained popular with journalists, government officials, and anyone else who deals with classified materials. Over the summer, droves of protesters concerned with law enforcement intercepting their communications downloaded the app as well.
Signal lets you chat securely.Signal
However, Signal's messages are only secure if both the sender and receiver are on the app. Otherwise, you're just sending standard text messages back and forth.
But encryption itself isn't a unique feature. Apps like iMessage, Telegraph and WeChat all do it to an extent. However, Signal's source code is publicly available, so experts have been able to poke and prod at its defenses for years, strengthening it in the process.
Signal's key features
Signal is similar to other messaging apps, but with a lot more security features. It's available for free on iPhone, Android, Mac, and PC.
Android users can even set their default messaging app to Signal if they want to.
There's a Signal app on nearly every major system.Signal.org
If you're concerned about someone accessing the Signal app from your phone, you can lock the app with the same passcode or fingerprint scan normally used to lock your phone.
Signal requires a phone number to join the app. To keep yours private, you can sign up with a Google voice number. Apple users will want to visit their privacy settings within the app and turn off "Show Calls in Recents" to prevent your history from syncing with the cloud.
You can also set your messages to disappear over time, or photos to disappear after a single viewing.
In short, Signal is focused on privacy first, and gives you a host of tools to manage that privacy.
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