A few days back, WhatsApp users around the world, were greeted with a new disclaimer claiming a change in the privacy policy, according to which, Facebook could now access almost every aspect of personal information that you share on Whatsapp. This led to a total outrage in the community, with people comp[lainign about how the app is pressurizing you to accept the terms or lose access to the platform altogether.
In the midst of all the chaos, Elon Musk put out a simple tweet that said “Use Signal”, and the revolution began. For those of you who don’t know, Signal is an instant messaging app, that has only one basic working principle – end-to-end encryption.
Governments in most countries have made the switch to the Signal messaging app a few years ago, as it absolutely takes no data from you, which means, whatever you share, whatever you speak, is all visible only to you and the recipient. Signal has no access to what you communicate on their platform.
We ourselves have made the switch to the Signal messaging app, and in this article, we are going to give you a review of the messenger, so that you can ultimately decide if it is worth making the switch.
Without further ado, let’s get started –
Table of Contents
Let’s start with the Signal Story
The real brains behind the operation are Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Action.
Matthew Rosenfeld, aka, Moxie Marlinspike, is the creator of Signal, Co-Founder of the Signal Foundation, and also a co-author of the Signal Protocol encryption used by Signal, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype.
Brian Action is the executive chairman of the Signal Foundation and is also one of the co-founders of the popular messaging app, Whatsapp.
The idea of Signal was to make cryptography simple, and usable for individuals. They started off with a team of 7 people, with no VC funding of any kind. However, the workload soon started taking its toll, and the decision was made to expand this to an organization that would be better equipped to maintain the platform and the ever-growing user base.
The Signal Foundation started off with initial funding of $50,000,000, which eventually enabled them to dream bigger and have more resources at their disposal. Today, Signal is growing stronger and the team is committed to the project for the long run, which means the messenger that is receiving so much love, is officially here to stay.
The User Interface
The first thing you will notice about the Signal Messaging app is its absolutely spartan and fluid user interface. There are no-frills, no multi colors, no jazz, but rather a focussed UI that allows you to concentrate on the content you have received. The chats are spaced out well, and you will find the app very easy to adjust to, no matter what you are transitioning from.
You will see alerts show up about people from your native contact list, who have joined Signal, and you can chat with them immediately if you want to.
