Chat with family and friends using Signal, the most secure and privacy-focused messaging app currently on the market
What’s new in Signal 5.12.1:
- This update fixes a bug that prevented people from linking their mobile device to Signal Desktop.
The last few years have not been especially kind to privacy-minded users. It’s funny (and scary) to think that walking down the street nowadays offers you a lot more privacy options than actually picking up your phone and going online.
Ensuring total privacy online seems to be a far-fetched dream, at least there’s a quick way to ensure it while messaging with your friends, family, and coworkers.
The solution comes in the form of Signal, a free, cross-platform, and very privacy and security-oriented instant messaging service.
Getting to know Signal
Before we dive deeper into why Signal is the best solution for privacy when it comes to messaging, let’s take a look at the platform’s environment first.
Signal comes in two forms: as an iOS app, and as an Android app. You’ll have to download and install the app on your phone first, then register a Signal account (using your telephone number). Once this is done, you’ll have to create a PIN.
With the help of this PIN, you’ll be able to recover your profile, settings, contacts, and other data. Only after all the above are taken care of, you can use one of the three companion apps for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Overall messaging experience
The first impressions regarding Signal should be good for most people. The app’s main page displays a running list of conversations (the newest ones always at the top of said list).
You can access the Settings section to configure and customize various aspects of the app: how it looks, how it handles and stores data, as well as other little things.
Even though it doesn’t have the polished look of other messaging apps out there, all the functionality is here. You can share texts, voice messages, photos, videos, as well as use stickers, emojis, and the occasional GIF.
Signal is also very good at both audio and video calls, both person-to-person and when it to group chats. Granted, it does not have the massive emoji collection Telegram has, it doesn’t have the polished look of other messaging apps, and it may not offer live backgrounds for video calls like Zoom, but everything you (actually) need is here.
What makes Signal stand out from the crowd?
Signal’s main selling point is, of course, its focus on security and privacy. For the untrained eye, Signal appears to be like most other apps out there. However, there are a couple of main differences between Signal and pretty much any other messaging app out there.
The first one is that Signal uses something called Signal Protocol. This is generally considered to be the most secure messaging protocol out there. The protocol itself is open-source and has been through rigorous testing by many security experts and researchers.
In fact, it’s so good that even WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype use it as the basis for their encryption needs.
Secondly, Signal has end-to-end encryption by default. Not like Telegram, for instance, which markets this feature with great pride, but users actually have to enabled Secret Chats in order to benefit from it.
Lastly, Signal has a very strong and correct stance regarding privacy. Not only is this app and all its underpinnings open-source and has been peer-reviewed for years on end, but it’s funded entirely by donations. In short, Signal is run by a non-profit organization that has no incentive to sell your data. The only real information Signal collects is your telephone number, but it can’t actually be linked back to your identity.
Conclusion
Signal is a fine example of what can be achieved when massive corporations are not behind our messaging apps. The result is pretty awesome: an app that’s both secure and very approachable for almost everyone.
Sure, it’s not that feature-rich or as polished as other messaging apps, and sure, it still fails to deliver a message or two from time to time, but for the time being, Signal is the most secure messaging app we’ve got.
