Facebook’s WhatsApp will change its privacy policy on February 8, when it will share user information with Facebook, including location, phone numbers, profile names and photos, when you last logged in online and more. People are now flocking to an alternative SMS app called Signal that does not collect your data.
According to Reuters, the daily download has increased 18x since WhatsApp changed its privacy policy and downloaded more than 800,000 downloads daily. This was probably partially reinforced by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who tweeted ‘use Signal’ earlier this month.
Signal, like WhatsApp, is a chat application that allows your friends and family to send and call messages through end-to-end encryption, which means that your messages are more protected and no one can read them easily, including Signal . It supports group messaging and other fun features that you can already use in chat programs, such as GIFs, videos and photos. It even has encrypted group video calls, though it is currently limited to five people. It’s completely free and you can use it on iPhones, Android phones, Macs, Windows computers and Linux.
Signal is also not a huge technology company that wants to make money from your information. It is a registered non-profit organization and relies on donations to operate. The free app does not collect your private information and has no ads.
Here’s how to use it.
How to use Signal
The Signal Messenger app is displayed on a smartphone in Hong Kong, China.
Roy Liu | Bloomberg | Getty Images
- Download Signal for iPhone or Android.
- Enter your phone number. This is so that Signal can send you a text message and confirm that you are the one using the app.
- Enter the code you received via SMS.
- Tap “Register without transferring.” If you’ve used Signal before, you can select ‘Transfer from iOS device’ to download your old conversations, but for the sake of this guide, we assume you’ve not used Signal yet.
- Now you are at the Signal home screen.
- Tap the pencil icon at the top right to create a message.
- You can send a message to people who already use Signal. You may also need to tap “Invite friends to signal” if your contact does not already have the app. It allows you to create an email message or text message to friends and family with a link to download the app.
- Once connected, you can start chatting with the same pencil icon, or create groups, just like you would in WhatsApp. You can even see proofs, links to send audio messages, stickers, photos and more.
That’s it! Now you’re running on Signal. If you want to use it instead of WhatsApp, you can delete WhatsApp chats by tapping “edit” at the top left of the chat page. Select your messages and then tap “delete”. A copy of your messages may remain for other users in chats you have participated in until they delete the chats as well.