Signal Private Messenger

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You're not paranoid; it's true: From advertisers to cops, everyone is watching you online. Instead of accepting life in a fishbowl, use Signal to keep your communication private. The free, open-source app protects your calls, messages, and video chats from prying eyes and data-hungry corporations. Best of all, you can use it on all of your devices. Among the messaging services we've tested, Signal strikes the best balance between security, accessibility, and fun, making it our Editors' Choice winner for private messaging apps.

Can You Trust Signal?

There are two major differences between Signal and just about every other chat application out there.

First, it's end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) by default. That means only you and the chat participants can read your messages. While other services like Facebook Messenger and Telegram include an E2EE option, Signal makes it mandatory. That said, Signal is built for privacy, not anonymity. Its main concern is ensuring you speak securely with only the people you intend, not hiding your identity.

Second, Signal is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization registered in the US. Profit-driven companies need your data to serve you ads or the businesses just sell that information to another company. That's just not Signal's model.

The underlying technology, called the Signal Protocol, has been evaluated by researchers and is open-source. Its core technology has also been implemented by Meta's and Google's messaging platforms, albeit as an option. While you might not trust those companies, they have vetted Signal's technology and found it worthy.

An even stronger endorsement comes, ironically enough, from the FBI. In late 2021, a document emerged outlining what information the agency could legally obtain from various messaging platforms. This confirmed what Signal had long said: It can only provide the date a customer signed up for the service and the last time it was used—less information than any competitors evaluated in the FBI document. Also, because Signal does not back up messages, it resists legal and malicious attempts to access cloud backups.

That said, Signal hasn't always had smooth sailing regarding security. In 2022, an attack on a third-party service used by Signal to verify new signups potentially revealed the phone numbers and SMS verification codes of 1,900 people. The company moved quickly to secure the data and disclose the attack—which is exactly what a company should do in this situation.

Getting Started With Signal

Signal is available as an Android app and an iOS app, with companion desktop apps for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Emphasis on companion: you must still register for Signal using a mobile phone. Your Signal message history is stored locally on your devices, but you can access your old messages on desktop platforms by scanning a QR code to link your device to your computer.

Signal requires a phone number to sign up. Though the service does not store or share your phone number or collect your contact lists, I don't love that Signal requires this type of personal information to sign up for the service.

On its website, Signal explains the phone number requirement: "Requiring phone numbers in Signal lets people see which of their friends they can easily talk to on Signal while limiting the potential for spam within the app." It's worth noting that competitors like Briar, Session, and Wire don't require a phone number to sign up, though those apps aren't as feature-packed as Signal.

How long have you had your current phone number? If it's been a while since you've changed it, many people, including advertisers, scammers, and telemarketers, know your digits.

It's unlikely, for now, to encounter spam on Signal. If you want to remove the possibility altogether, head over to the Settings menu and change "Who can find me by my number" and "Who can see my number" to "Nobody." You can also do what I did and create a fake phone number using Google Voice or a similar phone number generator and use it to sign up for Signal.

The app's Settings panel is where you create a Signal username, control the app's appearance, and tweak the privacy or security options. It's also where you link your Signal account to a desktop companion app.

When you first sign up, you're asked to create a PIN. According to Signal's FAQ, this allows you to "recover your profile, settings, contacts, and who you’ve blocked if you ever lose or switch devices." The company says this feature is designed to prevent the information from being accessible, even to the people who develop Signal. Furthermore, your chat history cannot be recovered with the PIN.

Private Chat

I tested Signal on a Samsung Galaxy A71 5G. The app's main page shows a running list of your conversations, with the newest shuffled to the top. You can pin conversations to the top of your screen for easy access. Use the search bar at the top of the screen to look for words used in your conversations or people from your contact list.

Texting

If you've used a chat app in the last decade, Signal's features and layout will be familiar to you. Text field buttons let you attach files, add privacy-respecting stickers, take and edit selfies, and record up to five minutes of encrypted audio. You can bold, underline, or italicize your chat text. You can also add visual elements like GIFs to liven up your chat windows. The Disappearing Messages option (found in the three-dot menu) lets you set a lifespan for your messages. That means your messages delete automatically, even from the recipient's phone.

Practice safe sexting! When you send pictures, you can allow the image to be viewed indefinitely or just once by tapping the infinity symbol in the bottom left of the screen.

Group Chats

You can add people manually from your contacts or create a sharable link or QR code to quickly populate your new group. Admins (a role assigned to the creator of the group by default) who can change group settings, assign other admins, approve members joining from a link, and, of course, remove other members as well. In testing, my group had no trouble communicating via text messages. Keep in mind that while Signal group chats are encrypted, messages to group chats containing people who aren't using Signal will be delivered via SMS.

I like the Message Requests: Alerts that appear when someone outside your contact list tries to message you. You can choose to Block, Report, or Accept the message from the sender. It's a nice way to cut down on potential scamming, spamming, or harassment on the app.

Voice and Video Chat

Video calls and group chats work across every platform Signal supports. Tap the phone or camera icon at the top of a chat to start a secure voice or video call. You switch your camera on to turn a voice call into a video chat.

Group Calling

Signal supports video conference calls with up to 40 participants, which is large enough for a friendly chat or a small group, though it can't compete with Zoom. Telegram allows up to 1,000 viewers for broadcasts, but only the first 30 can share their video.

Signal has other features that are familiar to the work-from-home crowd. The app can generate a video call link, and anyone using Signal can join the call immediately instead of waiting for an invitation. The link creator can approve all call participants manually or allow anyone with a link to join. Only the call link creator can block or remove a call participant or deactivate a call link. Your unused call links expire after 90 days.

Something important to note before you use the call link feature: If your phone number visibility is set to "Everyone" in the app Settings menu, everyone who joins your call using your link can see your phone number.

As in Discord, video calls in Signal persist until everyone has left. People who drop from a video or voice call can still participate in the text chat. Voice calls aren't explicitly supported for groups, but you can just turn off your camera.

As mentioned earlier, Signal works on a diverse set of platforms. I connected with colleagues using an iPhone, a Mac, and an Android device, all in one video call. My testing group found that rejoining a video or voice chat in progress was possible after a dropped call.

Social Networking

Taking a page from other modern social media platforms, namely Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, Signal has a "Stories" feature that allows you to upload photos, videos, or messages to their profile that disappear after a specific time. The feature could be helpful for group organizers or administrators who want to pass along communications to lots of people without spamming an active group chat with announcements. Sick of all the updates? Turn off Signal Stories in the app's Settings menu.

Payments

A new feature added since my last review is Signal Payments. This section of the app is for crypto transactions. The only supported cryptocurrency on Signal is MobileCoin, but the in-app link took me to the website for a coin called Sentz. Wikipedia says the two names are associated with the same cryptocurrency, but it was initially confusing.

I didn't test this feature, but according to Signal's website, you can transfer MobileCoin to your Signal wallet and pay other people. You cannot request payments from people, and you can't cancel or undo an accidental payment.

Verdict: Signal Delivers the Best of Both Worlds

Security and ease of use are often on opposite ends of the spectrum, but Signal's app remains a happy medium. The biggest drawback is its phone number requirement. Even so, we appreciate that Signal maintains a fun, polished, and popular service without compromising the core promise of secure, private communication. Accordingly, it's our Editors' Choice winner for private messaging.