Signal icon
Signal icon

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.

Signal screenshot 1

License model

  • FreeOpen Source

Country of Origin

  • US flagUnited States

Platforms

  • Mac
  • Windows
  • Linux  Native as .deb for Debian-based, Flatpak for all Distributions
  • Android
  • iPhone
  • iPad
  • Flathub
  • Ubuntu
  • Debian
4.4 / 5 Avg rating (114)
1281likes
62comments

Features

Suggest and vote on features

Properties

  1.  Privacy focused
  2.  Security-focused
  3.  Lightweight

Features

  1.  End-to-End Encryption
  2.  Encrypted Chat
  3.  Ad-free
  4.  Video Calling
  5.  Self Destructing Messages
  6.  Private messaging
  7.  No Tracking
  8.  Encrypted Connection
  9.  Mobile friendly
  10.  Dark Mode
  11.  Desktop Application
  12.  Secure Chat
  13.  Stickers
  14.  Based on phone number
  15.  GPLv3
  16.  Protected by Password
  17.  VoiP Calls
  18.  Encrypted VoIP calls
  19.  Client side encryption
  20.  Forward Secrecy
  21.  Usernames
  22.  Encrypted calls
  23.  Cross-Platform
  24.  Voice messages
  25.  Multiple languages
  26.  Over the shoulder view
  27.  Picture in Picture
  28.  Expiring Stories
  29.  Support for MarkDown
  30.  Works Offline
  31.  International Numbers
  32.  Share Videos
  33.  Built-in Photo editor
  34.  Voice Chat
  35.  Electron based
  36.  File Sending
  37.  Voting
  38.  Non profit
  39.  Centralized model repository
  40.  Animated stickers
  41.  Source code history
  42.  Integrated File Sharing
  43.  Team Messaging
  44.  Color coding
  45.  Text messaging
  46.  Private Chat
  47.  Support ZRTP

 Tags

Signal News & Activities

Highlights All activities

Recent News

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Recent activities

  • WiseSageBum liked Signal
    about 4 hours ago
  • App icon
    davideredigital added Signal as alternative to Mercurygram
    7 days ago
  • FreemiumFrenzy, Danilo_Venom, DistilledExcess and alternativeto-symphonic liked Signal
    7 days ago
  • Hardware5286 and rolrx liked Signal
    21 days ago
  • braky added Non profit as a feature to Signal
    about 1 month ago
  • dbriggs liked Signal
    about 1 month ago
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Comments and Reviews

   
 Post comment/review
Comment summary: Signal is widely praised for its top-level security, and privacy features, including end-to-end encryption and it being open source. Users appreciate its ease of use and multi-platform availability. However, some concerns are raised about requiring a phone number, no SMS support, and reliance on proprietary libraries. Critics note signal's centralized server and limited distribution channels as drawbacks. Overall, Signal is a preferred privacy-centric messaging app despite some minor concerns.
Top Positive Comment
Ariana
Jun 20, 2017
17

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.

Marcio Wilford
Dec 2, 2021

I have never heard about it! But i'm gonna try it

Top Negative Comment
Shark
Jan 28, 2019
51

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.

Eden
May 19, 2019

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.

Sam Lander
Jun 10, 2024

Technically, F-droid is less secure than Google Play. The most secure way to download would be from the source at Github.

Sam Lander
Jun 10, 2024

If someone is worried about Google Play, just load GrapheneOS or CalyxOS on their Android.

coth
Jun 25, 2024

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.

Alternative Software
Mar 26, 2025
0

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.

B2V Marketing
Mar 1, 2025
0

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.

j0
Feb 22, 2025
1

Works well but I can't migrate Windows installations to new computers and keep the messages. Even signalbackup-tools could't help.

a_martins71
Jan 21, 2025
1

Has the most compatibility

vctls
Nov 30, 2024
2

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.

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7 of 62 comments

What is Signal?

Using Signal, you can communicate instantly with your relatives without making a compromise on privacy or security. Make video calls, send messages, pictures, videos, documents, voice recordings, GIFs, contacts & location, create groups so that you can chat in real time with all your friends at once and react to their messages with emojis -all with complete privacy-. Signal servers never have access to any of your communications and never store any of your data.

  • Say Anything - Share text, voice messages, photos, videos, GIFs and files for free. Signal uses your phone's data connection so you can avoid SMS (No longer supports SMS or MMS) and MMS fees.
  • Speak Freely - Make crystal-clear voice and video calls to people who live across town, or across the ocean, with no long-distance charges.
  • Make Privacy Stick - Add a new layer of expression to your conversations with encrypted stickers. You can also create and share your own sticker packs.
  • Get Together with Groups - Group chats make it easy to stay connected to your family, friends, and coworkers.
  • No ads. No trackers. No kidding. - There are no ads, no affiliate marketers, and no creepy tracking in Signal. So focus on sharing the moments that matter with the people who matter to you.
  • Remain Connected - Push notifications let you know when new messages have arrived, and they'll be waiting for you even if your battery dies or you temporarily lose service.
  • View Source - All of our code is free, open, and available on GitHub (https://github.com/signalapp).
  • Join Movements - Technology developed by Open Whisper Systems is trusted and used by millions of people around the world every day.

Signal Videos

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Official Links

Signal information

  • Developed by

    US flagSignal Technology Foundation
  • Licensing

    Open Source (GPL-3.0) and Free product.
  • Rating

    Average rating of 4.4 (114 ratings)
  • Alternatives

    219 alternatives listed
  • News

    17 news article related to Signal
  • Supported Languages

    • English
    • Afrikaans
    • Albanian
    • Arabic
    • Azerbaijani
    • Basque
    • Bengali
    • Bosnian
    • Bulgarian
    • Burmese
    • Khmer
    • Catalan; Valencian
    • Croatian
    • Czech
    • Danish
    • Dutch
    • Estonian
    • Finnish
    • French
    • Galician
    • German
    • Greek
    • Gujarati
    • Hausa
    • Hebrew
    • Hindi
    • Hungarian
    • Icelandic
    • Indonesian
    • Irish
    • Italian
    • Japanese
    • Javanese
    • Kannada
    • Kazakh
    • Korean
    • Latvian
    • Lithuanian
    • Macedonian
    • Malay
    • Malayalam
    • Marathi
    • Norwegian Bokmål
    • Pashto, Pushto
    • Persian
    • Polish
    • Portuguese
    • Panjabi, Punjabi
    • Romanian
    • Russian
    • Serbian
    • Shona
    • Slovak
    • Slovene
    • Spanish
    • Swahili
    • Swedish
    • Tamil
    • Telugu
    • Thai
    • Chinese
    • Turkish
    • Turkmen
    • Uighur, Uyghur
    • Ukrainian
    • Urdu
    • Vietnamese
    • Welsh

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Our users have written 62 comments and reviews about Signal, and it has gotten 1281 likes

Signal was added to AlternativeTo by the3rdBIT on Feb 16, 2011 and this page was last updated Feb 26, 2025. Signal is sometimes referred to as TextSecure, RedPhone.