What is Signal, and why should I install it?

Signal is a messaging app, just like WhatsApp or Telegram. You can send messages, photos and voice notes, make voice and video calls, and create groups. It is free on phones and computers, and it works exactly like the apps you already know.

The difference is not in what it does, but in how it treats your conversations.

Only you and the person you are talking to

When you send a message with Signal, it is as if you sealed it in an envelope that only the recipient can open. Nobody else can read it along the way: not whoever runs the network, not people with bad intentions, and not even Signal itself.

This applies to everything: messages, photos, calls, groups. Always, without having to switch anything on.

It knows nothing about you

Many apps, even when they do not read your messages, collect a lot of information around them: who you talk to, how often, at what time, from where. Put together, this information says a great deal about your life.

Signal is designed to collect the bare minimum. It does not know your address book, it does not know who your friends are, it does not know what you write in groups. If someone asked it for information about you, it would have almost nothing to hand over.

No ads, no interest in profiling you

Signal does not belong to a big tech company and does not live on advertising. It is run by a non-profit organisation and is funded by donations from its users.

This means it has no reason to study your habits to sell you something: its only "product" is your privacy.

Anyone can check

How Signal works is public: anyone with the right skills can verify that it really does what it promises. You do not have to take its word for it, because experts all over the world have been checking it for years.

Your number can stay private

You can choose a username and share that instead of your phone number. Handy when you want to write to someone without giving them your personal number.

A few extra privacy features

• Disappearing messages: messages can delete themselves after a set time.
• App lock: you can protect Signal with your fingerprint or a PIN.
• Hidden previews: you can stop message content from showing on the lock screen.

"But I have nothing to hide"

It is not about hiding something, it is about deciding who gets to know what. You lock your front door even when you are not doing anything wrong, and you put letters in an envelope instead of sending them on a postcard. Signal is the same thing, applied to your conversations.

How to get started

1. Download Signal from the Play Store or the App Store (or from signal.org for your computer).
2. Register with your phone number.
3. Invite your closest contacts: they just need to install it too.

You do not have to leave the other apps right away. Start with the people you talk to most: the switch will feel more natural than you think.

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Signal is not perfect for everything, but for private conversations it is one of the safest and simplest choices available to anyone today.