From advertisers to law enforcement, everyone is watching you online. Instead of accepting life in a fishbowl, use Signal to keep your communication private and secure. The free, open-source app protects your calls, messages, and video chats from prying eyes and data-hungry corporations. Best of all, you can use it on all of your devices. Among the services we've tested, Signal strikes the best balance between security, accessibility, and fun, making it our Editors' Choice for private messaging apps.

Can You Trust Signal?

Managing expectations for privacy online is important, so let's start here: It's unwise to trust any internet-connected device or software to fully secure your private information. We live in an age of near-constant data breaches, and our interconnected existence makes it easy for criminals to steal your data, often without your awareness, and they'll face little to no consequences.

Also, be aware that a private messaging service cannot prevent your chat partners from exposing your private chats to the world. So keep extremely sensitive conversations, like discussions about imminent war plans, offline to fully protect your privacy.

Signal is end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) by default, so only you and the chat participants can read your messages. That said, Signal is built for privacy, not anonymity. Its main concern is ensuring you can speak securely with only the people you intend to, without completely hiding your identity. 

Signal is also a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization registered in the US. Profit-driven companies need your data to serve you ads, or they sell it to another company. That's just not Signal's model, which is a plus.

The underlying technology, known as the Signal Protocol, has been thoroughly evaluated by researchers and is open-source. Its core technology has also been implemented by Meta's and Google's messaging platforms, albeit as an option. While you might not trust those companies, they have vetted Signal's technology and found it worthy.

An even stronger endorsement comes, ironically enough, from the FBI. In late 2021, a document emerged outlining what information the agency could legally obtain from various messaging platforms. This confirmed what Signal had long stated: it can only provide the date a customer signed up for the service and the last time it was used—less information than any of its competitors evaluated in the FBI document. Also, because Signal does not back up messages, it resists legal and malicious attempts to access cloud backups.

That said, Signal hasn't always had smooth sailing when it comes to security. In 2022, an attack on a third-party service used by Signal to verify new signups potentially revealed the phone numbers and SMS verification codes of 1,900 people. The company moved quickly to secure the data and disclose the attack, which is exactly what a company should do in this situation.

Getting Started With Signal

Signal is available as Android and iOS apps, with companion desktop apps for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Emphasis on companion: you must still register for Signal using a mobile phone. Your Signal message history is stored locally on your devices, but you can access your old messages on desktop platforms by scanning a QR code to link your device to your computer.

(Credit: Signal/PCMag)

Signal requires a phone number to sign up. Although the service does not store or share your phone number or collect your contact list, I'm not fond of the fact that Signal requires this type of personal information to sign up.

How long have you had your current phone number? If it's been a while since you've changed it, many people, including advertisers, scammers, and telemarketers, know your digits. I used a Google Voice number to sign up for a new account while testing the service, and it worked as expected.

It's unlikely, for now, to encounter spam on Signal. If you want to remove the possibility altogether, head over to the Settings menu and change "Who can find me by my number" and "Who can see my number" to "Nobody." You can also follow my example and create a fake phone number using Google Voice or a similar burner number to sign up for Signal.

On its website, Signal explains the phone number requirement: "Requiring phone numbers in Signal lets people see which of their friends they can easily talk to on Signal while limiting the potential for spam within the app." It's worth noting that competitors like Briar, Session, and Wire don't require a phone number to sign up; however, these apps aren't as feature-packed as Signal.

Settings

(Credit: Signal/PCMag)

The app's Settings panel is where you create a Signal username, control the app's appearance, and tweak the privacy or security options. It's also where you link your Signal account to a desktop companion app.

When you first sign up, you're asked to create a PIN. According to Signal's FAQ, this allows you to "recover your profile, settings, contacts, and who you’ve blocked if you ever lose or switch devices." The company says this feature is designed to prevent the information from being accessible, even to the people who develop Signal. Furthermore, your chat history cannot be recovered with the PIN.

In the Appearance section, you can change your chat color and wallpaper, which is fun. I also like that you can change the Signal app icon on your phone to something less recognizable, which may help you avoid security searches while traveling.

In the Privacy settings, you can choose to hide the Signal app on your phone or make it only accessible via biometrics or a passcode, which are helpful privacy-protecting measures.

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Backups

Android and iOS users can back up their chats locally. Here's how it works: If you opt in, Signal stores an end-to-end encrypted copy of your chats in a folder on your computer or device. To turn on this feature, scroll to the bottom of the Chats section within the Settings menu. Remember to write down the backup passphrase so you can access your backup folder. The archive refreshes daily, and you can store up to 45 days' worth of media for free. If you need to store your files for longer than 45 days, you'll need to pay $1.99 per month.

(Credit: Signal/PCMag)

Chat Backups is Signal's first paid add-on feature. The company explains why on its blog: "Media requires a lot of storage, and storing and transferring large amounts of data is expensive. As a nonprofit that refuses to collect or sell your data, Signal needs to cover those costs differently than other tech organizations that offer similar products but support themselves by selling ads and monetizing data."

Signal's opt-in subscription is relatively small compared with those offered by some of the ad-supported messaging apps mentioned in the blog post. For example, ad-supported Telegram offers a Premium plan that enhances customers' upload limits and adds real-time chat translation, voice-to-text capabilities in video messaging, and other benefits. WhatsApp also added ads to the status section of the platform, and the company introduced paid channel subscriptions.

Private Chat

I tested Signal on an iPhone and an Android phone. The app's main page displays a running list of your conversations, with the newest ones at the top. You can pin conversations to the top of your screen for easy access. Use the search bar at the top of the screen to find words from your conversations or people in your contact list. You can also create private notes to yourself that will sync across your devices.

(Credit: Signal/PCMag)

Texting

If you've used a chat app in the last decade, Signal's features and layout will be familiar to you. Text field buttons let you attach files, add privacy-respecting stickers, take and edit selfies, and record up to five minutes of encrypted audio. You can bold, underline, or italicize your chat text. You can also add visual elements, such as GIFs, to liven up your chat windows. The Disappearing Messages option (found in the three-dot menu) lets you set a lifespan for your messages. That means your messages are deleted automatically, even from the recipient's phone.

Practice safe sexting! When you send pictures, you can set whether the image is viewed indefinitely or just once by tapping the infinity symbol in the bottom left of the screen.

Group Chats

(Credit: Signal/PCMag)

You can add people manually from your contacts or create a shareable link or QR code to quickly populate your new group. Admins (a role assigned to the group creator by default) can change group settings, assign other admins, approve members joining via a link, and, of course, remove other members. In testing, my group had no trouble communicating via text messages. Keep in mind that while Signal group chats are encrypted, messages to group chats containing people who aren't using Signal will be delivered via SMS.

I like the Message Requests: Alerts that appear when someone outside your contact list tries to message you. You can choose to Block, Report, or Accept the message from the sender. It's a nice way to reduce the risk of scams, spam, or harassment on the app.

Voice and Video Chat

Video calls and group chats work across every platform Signal supports. Tap the phone or camera icon at the top of a chat to start a secure voice or video call. You turn your camera on to switch a voice call to a video chat. 

Group Calling

(Credit: Signal/PCMag)

Signal supports video conference calls with up to 75 participants, which is large enough for a small editorial or business unit, though it can't compete with Zoom. Telegram allows up to 1,000 viewers for broadcasts.

Signal also offers features familiar to the work-from-home crowd. The app can generate a video call link that anyone using Signal can join immediately, without waiting for an invitation. The link creator can approve all call participants manually or allow anyone with the link to join. Only the call link creator can block or remove a call participant or deactivate a call link. Your unused call links expire after 90 days.

Please note an important point before using the call link feature: If your phone number visibility is set to "Everyone" in the app's Settings menu, anyone who joins your call using your link will be able to see your phone number.

As on Discord, video calls in Signal persist until everyone has left. People who drop from a video or voice call can still participate in the text chat. Voice calls aren't explicitly supported for groups, but you can just turn off your camera.

As mentioned earlier, Signal works on a diverse set of platforms. I connected with colleagues using an iPhone, a Mac, and an Android device simultaneously in a single video call. My testing group found that it was possible to rejoin a video or voice chat in progress after a dropped call.

Social Networking

Taking a page from other modern social media platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, Signal offers a "Stories" option that lets you upload photos, videos, or messages to your profile, which disappear after a specified time. The feature could be helpful for group organizers or administrators who want to share communications with multiple people without cluttering an active group chat with unnecessary announcements. Sick of all the updates? Turn off Signal Stories in the app's Settings menu.

Payments

Signal Payments is for crypto transactions. The only supported cryptocurrency on Signal is MobileCoin, but the in-app link took me to the website for a coin called Sentz. Wikipedia states that the two names refer to the same cryptocurrency, although it was initially confusing.

I didn't test this feature, but according to Signal's website, you can transfer MobileCoin to your Signal wallet and pay others with it. You cannot request payments from people, and you can't cancel or undo an accidental payment.