Signal
Free, open-source end-to-end encrypted messaging app for text, voice, video and group chats.
HN commenters recommend Signal for sensitive conversations1234 and for friend, family and community group chats, and many say it just works.56789 The most common complaint is its reliance on a phone number and a primary phone,10111213 which makes linking other devices, switching phones and keeping chat history painful.1415161718
Why people recommend it
Privacy and security · 3
Commenters steer sensitive or higher-risk communication to Signal and point to its encryption, encrypted backups and phone-number protections.
“use Signal for anything you care about.”
“it'd be extremely non trivial to extract user phone numbers.”
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“A good counter-example is Signal, which opts out of backups on iOS and Android and the only option is to do E2E backups to their own servers.”
Group chats · 3
People have moved friends, families and local community groups onto Signal group chats.
“we've managed to get our families into Signal groups that largely accomplish the same things at the scale we need.”
“my friends and I mostly just use Signal for group chats”
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“The most engaging online interaction I've had recently has been some local community groups on Signal”
Reliability · 3
Several users say it just works, including on poor networks while traveling.
“I put them in an exclusive S-Tier with, surprisingly, Chase Mobile (in recent years), Signal, Google Sheets”
“I use Signal more than any other messenger app, and I have never had the deliverability issues you complain about”
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“Signal has been fine”
Easy adoption · 3
Commenters found it easier to get contacts onto Signal than onto Matrix or after leaving Wickr.
“adoption-wise I was able to get way more people on Signal.”
“my entire social circle by a kind of unspoken consensus switched to Signal.”
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“switching contacts to Signal is becoming easier with its growing popularity”
Open and auditable · 2
The app can be audited, built from source, and updated directly from signal.org without Google Play.
“I can audit it, download it or even compile it myself from sources”
“You do not need Google Play Store to download or update Signal.”
Bots and notifications · 2
Some use it to send automated notifications as an easier alternative to WhatsApp or Telegram bots.
“I use a signal api on a daily basis for all my agentic chatting and notifications”
“I just switched to Signal.”
Caveats and dissent
Phone number required · 3
Signal needs a phone number and an active phone, and one user's account was disabled after a year without a phone.
“Signal is a perfect direct replacement for WhatsApp but it still requires a phone number.”
“Signal blocks not only the specific app from working if it's not updated, but disables your whole account if you can't update the mobile app.”
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“I use a signal api on a daily basis for all my agentic chatting and notifications”
Multi-device limits · 3
Linking devices depends on a primary phone with a camera, and keys are hard to move between devices or systems.
“The fact that whatsapp, signal and other platforms tend to have a primary device for keys is bonkers to me.”
“There is no way to use the Signal app on a device without a camera (USB cameras are even explicitly blocked!)”
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“signal ties its keys to that wallet and does not allow me to switch. that's frankly very bad.”
History and backups · 3
Users report losing chat history when changing phones and dislike limits such as 45 days of media and a maximum of 5 devices.
“FB Messenger, X Chat, WhatsApp, Signal, etc... NO. Just LET ME CHAT.”
“Why has chat regressed?”
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Trust concerns · 3
Some commenters distrust Signal because of its past US government funding or unclear finances.
“I love Signal and it's still my preferred messenger”
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“I use Signal too, but I don't trust that either.”
SMS handling · 2
Signal removed SMS support, and one user says it would not let him type in the SMS registration code by hand.
“in their wisdom they removed SMS feature, so Signal was removed from phones of my whole extended family”
“This was possible in WhatsApp, but was not possible in Signal. It won't allow you.”
Flaky delivery · 1
One commenter says Signal has been slow and flaky recently.
Often compared with
1 moved from WhatsApp to Signal
1 moved from Matrix to Signal
1 moved from Signal to Matrix
1 moved from Discord to Signal
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable 4 mentions
- Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month 3 mentions
- Registration without a phone number on Signal will use zero-knowledge proofs 2 mentions
- I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux 2 mentions
- Punkt. Unveils MC03 Smartphone 2 mentions
- Molly: An Improved Signal App 2 mentions
Data: signal.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 50
“this was my reason not to use Signal at all”
“I use Signal more than any other messenger app, and I have never had the deliverability issues you complain about”
“This was possible in WhatsApp, but was not possible in Signal. It won't allow you.”
“I use signal on my primary phone and Molly on a secondary phone.”
“use Signal for anything you care about.”
“I use signal, whatsapp, discord, irc, google chat, email and messenger without complaint.”
“Signal has been fine”
“if I should switch to Signal or something”
“Signal is excellent.”
“in the same way I have contacts who use Signal and some who don't”
“often on discord, sometimes on whatsapp/signal”
“Signal is excellent.”
“I also have Signal on it”
“I've got Slack and Signal in one”
“I use Signal too, but I don't trust that either.”
“in their wisdom they removed SMS feature, so Signal was removed from phones of my whole extended family”
“I use signal, I have nothing to hide but it is useful in that nobody can spoof me (easily).”
“To be clear, I use signal pretty heavily, but that's because my threat model doesn't really include competent .us.gov actors.”
“I love Signal and it's still my preferred messenger”
“Mastodon, Signal group chats”
“within a Signal group of 150 people adjacent to the neteng teams”
“whether higher risk comms should instead be in something like Signal”
“I use only Signal for chat”
“Signal, GrapheneOS, Tor... this is a battle with many fronts”
“Signal (I use Molly but it's only on Android)”
“my entire social circle by a kind of unspoken consensus switched to Signal.”
“we've managed to get our families into Signal groups that largely accomplish the same things at the scale we need.”
“You do not need Google Play Store to download or update Signal.”
“Why has chat regressed?”
“Buy a Signal Login (or declare an existing one) in order to register without a phone number.”
“Signal barely works via the Electron app (and signal-cli), so that’s what I use for messaging.”
“Signal and Delta Chat work fine.”
“You really, really should use Signal instead.”
“Yet most people that use signal probably don’t even know what open source means.”
“Privately, I prefer Signal. Works also great.”
“I use a signal api on a daily basis for all my agentic chatting and notifications”
“notifications are extremely finicky no matter what battery optimization settings I tweak”
“adoption-wise I was able to get way more people on Signal.”
“I use Signal with some groups but that is a minority.”
“the European Commission strongly recommends that staff use Signal”
“signal ties its keys to that wallet and does not allow me to switch. that's frankly very bad.”
“I put them in an exclusive S-Tier with, surprisingly, Chase Mobile (in recent years), Signal, Google Sheets”
“my friends and I mostly just use Signal for group chats”
“FB Messenger, X Chat, WhatsApp, Signal, etc... NO. Just LET ME CHAT.”
“The fact that whatsapp, signal and other platforms tend to have a primary device for keys is bonkers to me.”
“Signal is a perfect direct replacement for WhatsApp but it still requires a phone number.”
“There is no way to use the Signal app on a device without a camera (USB cameras are even explicitly blocked!)”
“Signal blocks not only the specific app from working if it's not updated, but disables your whole account if you can't update the mobile app.”
“I really soured on Signal early”
“The most engaging online interaction I've had recently has been some local community groups on Signal”