Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging app. Privacy isn’t an optional mode, it’s just the way that Signal works. Every message, every call, every time.
Facebook is probably more comfortable selling ads than buying them, but they'll do what they have to do in order to be the top result when some people search for 'Signal' in the App Store.
P.S. There will never be ads in Signal, because your data belongs in your hands not ours.
Signal is back! Like an underdog going through a training montage, we’ve learned a lot since yesterday — and we did it together. Thanks to the millions of new Signal users around the world for your patience. Your capacity for understanding inspired us while we expanded capacity.
We've had an uptick in usage in Eastern Europe & rumors are circulating that Signal is hacked & compromised. This is false. Signal is not hacked. We believe these rumors are part of a coordinated misinformation campaign meant to encourage people to use less secure alternatives.
Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible. Hang in there.
Here is your friendly reminder that we built Signal for private, secure communication. It’s built so you can communicate individually and in groups, through text and calls, without fear of interference or data collection. Free to use and not for profit.
*checks calendar. pours coffee*. OK. Let’s do this. No, we can’t see your personal messages. No, we won’t delete your account. Yes, you can accept at any time.
We have been adding new servers and extra capacity at a record pace every single day this week nonstop, but today exceeded even our most optimistic projections. Millions upon millions of new users are sending a message that privacy matters. We appreciate your patience.
Signups are way up on Signal (welcome everyone!) We also know what it’s like to work through an outage, and wish the best for the engineers working on bringing back service on other platforms
#mondays
Ever since Signal simultaneously hit
#1
on the 🇮🇷 Play Store and
#1
on the 🇮🇷 government's block list, we've been working around 🇮🇷 censorship.
Unable to stop registration, the IR censors are now dropping all Signal traffic.
Iranian people deserve privacy. We haven't given up.
Is this what stock analysts mean when they say that the market is giving mixed Signals?
It's understandable that people want to invest in Signal's record growth, but this isn't us. We're an independent 501c3 and our only investment is in your privacy.
As an unfortunate side effect of this outage, users might see errors in some of their chats. This does *not* affect your chat's security, but you may have missed a message from that contact. The next Signal app updates will fix this automatically. Here's what you can do now...
We are so grateful for the outpouring of support from everyone who is contributing to Signal's ongoing operation and development. We're a 501c3 nonprofit and we couldn't do this without you.
If you are on the fence about donating, you can give in here:
Signal registrations are through the roof; welcome everyone! Solidarity to the folks working on the WhatsApp outage. People outside of the tech industry will never understand how weird it sounds when someone says that they are "looking forward to some weekend downtime.
A request to our community: Signal is blocked in Iran. You can help people in Iran reconnect to Signal by hosting a proxy server. If you’re willing and able, please follow the instructions here: 1/2
#IRanASignalProxy
A lot of people have been asking how to move their group chats from other apps to Signal, and Signal group links are a great way to get started. Drop a group link into your former chat app of choice like you're dropping the mic on the way out.
Here's a sneak peek at some new Signal features that will start rolling out in a few days:
• Chat wallpapers!
• About field for your Signal profile
• Animated stickers
• For iOS: Media auto-download settings and full-screen profile photos (to match Android)
Good morning 🇮🇳!
Introducing usernames and phone number privacy on Signal! We’re making it possible for people to connect with each other without having to share phone numbers. Now launching to beta users, available for everyone soon.
Shout out to all of the Android and iOS beta participants who will be helping us test these new features over the weekend so that we can start rolling them out to everyone soon.
🚨
@signalapp
takes advantage of the situation, implementing several WhatsApp features!
Signal has implemented Custom Chat Wallpapers, Contact About, Low Data Mode, Animated Stickers, Group Calls limit to 8 participants and more! 😱
We're aware of reports that access to Signal has been blocked in some countries. As a reminder, Signal's built-in censorship circumvention feature might be able to help if your connection is affected:
Signal Settings > Privacy > Advanced > Censorship circumvention (on)
Our position remains clear. We will not back down on providing private, safe communications. Today, we join with other encrypted messengers pushing back on the UK's flawed Online Safety Bill.
Chat wallpapers have arrived! Customize wallpapers for each of your chats or just set a default background for everyone if your patience is wallpaper thin. Now available in Signal 5.3 for Android and iOS.
Looks like the Indian government has been secretly attempting to surveil political opposition parties, journalists, activists, clerics, and labor unions.
Interesting coincidence that they've also been advocating legislation to weaken encryption lately!
Recently
@twilio
, which provides SMS verification services for Signal, suffered a phishing attack. Via Twilio, attackers may have accessed phone numbers & SMS registration codes for 1,900 Signal users. 1/
About an hour ago, some Signal users experienced delays sending and receiving messages. One small cluster of servers got confused and thought that Sunday was a day of rest for them too. We apologize for the brief inconvenience while everything automatically recovered.
As an interim solution to help people in Iran get connected again, we've added support in Signal for a simple TLS proxy that is easy to set up, can be used to bypass the network block, and will securely route traffic to the Signal service.
Our latest blog post explores vulnerabilities and possible Apple copyright violations in Cellebrite's software:
"Exploiting vulnerabilities in Cellebrite UFED and Physical Analyzer from an app's perspective"
We have no investors, no advertisers, nobody breathing down our necks demanding that we compromise on privacy for the sake of the bottom line. Signal is supported by you and your donations. 1/
As a nonprofit organization, we depend on your support. If you've been patiently waiting for Signal to accept cryptocurrency donations, you no longer need to hodl back your generosity.
We’re seeing these rumors appear in messages forwarded on several different apps. These rumors are often attributed to official government sources and read “attacks on Signal platform.” This is false and Signal is not under attack.
PSA: we have seen the vague viral reports alleging a Signal 0-day vulnerability.
After responsible investigation *we have no evidence that suggests this vulnerability is real* nor has any additional info been shared via our official reporting channels.
Giphy was just acquired by Facebook, but GIF searches in Signal have been protected by a privacy-preserving proxy from the very beginning. The Giphy SDK isn't included in the app at all. You can read more about our approach to handling animated GIFs here:
It's International
#DataPrivacyDay
! We wanted to launch a global marketing campaign to talk about data privacy — but like every other day, we don't monetize personal data. So here it is. It's this billboard. The cheapest billboard in the USA. It's in Albuquerque.
#WeKnowNothing
Messengers only matter if people use them. So, thank you for your support, for telling your friends, for getting your group chats on Signal, and for supporting our work with donations.
It’s an honor to build Signal for you. We literally could not do it without you.
We're still working really hard to get Signal up and running for everyone around the world. We're making good progress. Thanks for your support & donations! They mean a lot to the small team who's been working long nights.
Today, we are launching the Signal Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a mission to develop open source privacy technology that protects free expression and enables secure global communication:
"We work with Facebook to offer new products and services..." — WhatsApp (2021)
"Yeah, but your [data] scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should." — Dr. Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park (1993)
Introducing usernames and phone number privacy on Signal! We’re making it possible for people to connect with each other without having to share phone numbers. Now launching to beta users, available for everyone soon.
Signal is blocked in several countries but you can set up a proxy server to help people access Signal no matter where they live. Here’s how:
Thank you for helping keep Signal available for everyone who needs it.
To share your proxies use
#SignalProxy
We continue to shatter traffic records and add capacity as more and more people come to terms with how much they dislike Facebook's new terms. If you weren't able to create a new group recently, please try again. New servers are ready to serve you.
Signal is a nonprofit. But what does this mean in practice? Today we do something most tech co’s avoid: talk money. What does it cost for Signal to play in a lane dominated by billion $ corporations, while rejecting the surveillance business model? 1/
Announcing PQXDH! The first step in post-quantum resistance for the Signal Protocol, PQXDH protects your Signal calls & chats from potential future threats of breakthroughs in quantum computing. And it's already rolling out to Signal clients everywhere.
Everyone should be able to register without delay again. Thanks to all of the carriers who flipped the right switches so that people can keep switching.
To help welcome everyone coming to Signal, we've opened an AMA over on r/technology
@reddit
. We want to hear from as many of you (old and new) as possible to continue to improve the app and answer any questions about who we are!
On Android if you see "Bad encrypted message," tap the menu in the top-right & tap "Reset secure session." On iOS tap the "Reset Session" button below "Received message was out of sync." The errors do not affect chat security & will be automatically fixed in the next app update.
Yesterday some beta testers on Android might have gotten an update with a red app icon. This was because we accidentally promoted the alpha release directly to beta w/o changing the color first, not in celebration of Taylor Swift’s rerelease of Red. Apologies for any confusion.
If you can't reach our site directly, we created the email: getsignal
@signal
.org. Email us here, and we will automatically respond with a link directing you to the APK where you can download Signal for Android. Please note that this inbox is not monitored.
#opiran
#MahsaAmini
People in Iran wanting to use Signal for Android: try downloading it from the Play Store first. This is the easiest option. If this doesn’t work, you can try getting it from our site, here:
#IRanASignalProxy
#MahsaAmini
#OpIran
#مهسا_امینی
Our quantum-resistant protocol upgrade, PQXDH, is now “the first machine-checked post-quantum security proof of a real-world cryptographic protocol.”
Thanks to the researchers who did this important formal verification! Read more from them here👇
Even though we're still breaking records, verification codes are back in the groove. Delivery delays have been eliminated across multiple cellular providers, so things should be more ASAP when you join the app.
Millions of new people have joined Signal today and our messaging and calling have been up and running but some people aren't seeing all of their contacts appear on Signal. We're working hard to fix this up.
Elizabeth Denham, the UK Information Commissioner for its independent privacy authority (ICO), was asked by a member of parliament if she uses WhatsApp or Facebook (no) and what she uses instead (Signal).
Just goes to show that leaving the FB is a lot easier than leaving the EU.
We need to get in touch with someone on the Play Store team who can help us resolve a problem. After more than 65 days, we are stuck in a feedback loop and it's getting harder to ship Signal updates. Are you a human at Google? Please email us here: prayforplay
@signal
.org
Lots of apps don't like putting a label on your relationship. They want to keep things casual so that they can keep seeing other people (e.g. advertisers).
Signal isn't afraid of commitment though, and our label says that we're committed to your privacy.
Now in beta on Android & Desktop, coming soon to iOS:
Save custom nicknames & notes for anyone you’re chatting with on Signal, even if they aren’t in your phone’s contacts. Useful for adding missing letters in a lazy friend’s profile name or a reminder about where you met.
Signal is supported by your donations. Not ad money, not investors. Privacy is central to everything we do, and of course this includes accepting donations. 1/
Nobody ever invited Big Tech to join a group chat, but they still hang around and know what's going on.
Signal knows nothing. Private groups protect your group names, group membership, group messages, and even the group avatar with end-to-end encryption.
In another reminder that Signal doesn't know anything about you, our transparency page has been updated with two additional government requests and our responses:
Now in beta on Android & Desktop, coming soon to iOS:
Save custom nicknames & notes for anyone you’re chatting with on Signal, even if they aren’t in your phone’s contacts. Useful for adding missing letters in a lazy friend’s profile name or a reminder about where you met.
People in Iran wanting to use Signal for Android: try downloading it from the Play Store first. This is the easiest option. If this doesn’t work, you can try getting it from our site, here:
#IRanASignalProxy
#MahsaAmini
#OpIran
#مهسا_امینی