Signal
1281 likes
An open-source messaging app emphasizing privacy with encrypted communication. Share texts, calls, photos, and videos without ads or trackers, available across major platforms. Developed by Signal Technology Foundation and praised globally for security measures.
License model
- Free • Open Source
Application types
Country of Origin
United States
Platforms
- Mac
- Windows
- Linux
- Android
- iPhone
- iPad
- Flathub
- Ubuntu
- Debian
Features
Signal News & Activities
Highlights All activities
Recent News
- POX published news article about SignalSignal adds screenshot protection on Windows 11 to block Recall from storing your chats
Signal desktop users on Windows now benefit from an added privacy feature: a screen security settin...
- Maoholguin published news article about SignalX is blocking Signal domain links in DMs, labeling them as potentially harmful or spam
X has begun blocking links to the Signal.me domain, which is used for sharing contact details on th...
- POX published news article about SignalSignal will finally let you transfer your encrypted chat history to new linked devices
Signal has announced new functionality in its upcoming beta releases, allowing users to transfer me...
Recent activities
- WiseSageBum liked Signal
- davideredigital added Signal as alternative to Mercurygram
- braky added Non profit as a feature to Signal
- dbriggs liked Signal
What is Signal?
Signal Videos
Signal information
AlternativeTo Categories
Social & Communications, Security & Privacy, File Sharing, Video & MoviesApple AppStore
- Updated May 21, 2025
- 4.75 avg rating
Comments and Reviews
I love Signal because of the automatic end-to-end encryption. Even though Whatsapp now has that, too, I still prefer Signal because it's more transparent about key handling. I would love them to add an opportunity to use it without a phone number. This is the only thing I don't like because you can't stay anonymous when using Signal.
I have never heard about it! But i'm gonna try it
Regardless of who endorses him, Moxie is hostile to anyone that threatens his control over the project. He also has a very high opinion of the Google Play store despite that coming with Google's ToS and Google Play Services. He does everything he can to shutdown alternative modes of distribution. I would read this before installing and contributing to Signal's userbase, especially if open source and/or F-Droid are things you care about.
I am not an expert but i appreciate the thought that you put into your criticism. Most importantly i appreciate the alternatives that you listed. I'm checking into Tox right now.
Technically, F-droid is less secure than Google Play. The most secure way to download would be from the source at Github.
If someone is worried about Google Play, just load GrapheneOS or CalyxOS on their Android.
F-Droid is not a binary distribution, like Google Play. It builts releases from sources - from GitHub, GitLab etc etc. So it is much safer than Google Play.
Signal is my go-to messaging app. I love that it is end-to-end encrypted and easy to use! The user-friendliness of the app made it easy to get my friends and family to get onto the app. It works really well for everything that I use it for. Plus, it’s open source.
We solely use this instant messaging app to manage our day to day operations. Signal allows us to instantly connect with our team members every day.
Works well but I can't migrate Windows installations to new computers and keep the messages. Even signalbackup-tools could't help.
Has the most compatibility
You want privacy? Use Signal. Not Telegram, not WhatsApp, not Matrix, not X or Y… Signal. It's simple: Signal is the only privacy first messaging app. Just to be clear: privacy first means everything else comes second. So yeah, there may be missing features compared to other apps, but at least you can be sure that there is just no way of accidentally leaking data, because features will just not be integrated if they somehow require giving up encryption.
But still, what about X and Y? I hear you say. You mean, some fork of Signal that's only been around for a few months? Or that's owned by a GAFAM company? Or hasn't been audited? Because that's what most of the alternatives are: forks of Signal with issues.
Not that Signal is completely free of issues, mind you. It's just overall better than everything else from a privacy standpoint. And it's so simple even my grandma can use it.
So, what are the issues?
My biggest actual issue is that some phones tend to kill or hibernate Signal, which completely disables notifications until the user opens the app. A couple of friends have this issue, and it's the main reason why they're not using it. But it's got more to do with how some vendors use non-standard power management than with Signal itself.
It still requires a phone number to login, at least the first time. Not sure how much of a problem this really is, though. You don't have to give your phone number to someone else for them to be able to contact you anymore, since they added
It's still centralized. That may make it easier to take down, but that remains to be seen. Even countries that try to block it still don't seem to get on top of their censorship circumvention feature.
There have been issues with how the database encryption key is stored on the desktop app, that could have been better handled by their team. It's been fixed.
Aside from that, most of the complaints I read about Signal are about some obscure issues with how the organization is managed, or some incidental bugs, or conspiratorial nonsense. And even when the issues are very real, they're still pretty much insignificant compared to the competition.