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.
(Credit: Signal/PCMag)
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.
Settings
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.
Backups
(Credit: Signal/PCMag)
Signal recently added a new feature: a conversation archive called Chat Backups. Here’s how it works: If you opt in, Signal stores an end-to-end encrypted copy of your chats in a folder on your computer or device. To turn on this feature, scroll to the bottom of the Chats section within the Settings menu. Remember to write down the backup passphrase so you can access your backup folder. The archive refreshes daily, and you can store up to 45 days’ worth of media for free. If you need to store your files for longer than 45 days, you’ll need to pay $1.99 per month. Currently, the feature is only available within the beta version of the Android app.
Chat Backups is Signal’s first paid add-on feature. The company explained why on its blog: “Media requires a lot of storage, and storing and transferring large amounts of data is expensive. As a nonprofit that refuses to collect or sell your data, Signal needs to cover those costs differently than other tech organizations that offer similar products but support themselves by selling ads and monetizing data.”
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Signal’s opt-in subscription is small in comparison to those offered by some of the ad-supported messaging apps mentioned in the blog post. For example, ad-supported Telegram offers a Premium plan that boosts customers’ upload limits and adds real-time chat translation, voice-to-text in video messaging, and other perks. WhatsApp recently added ads to the status section of the platform, and earlier this year, the company introduced paid channel subscriptions.
