Signal - Private Messenger App Reviews

Open source. End-to-end encryption. Endorsed by Snowden. Need I say more?

And the implementation is so good. Thank you for making it.

On December 28, 2014, Der Spiegel published slides from an internal NSA presentation dating to June 2012 in which the NSA deemed Signals encrypted voice calling component (RedPhone) on its own as a "major threat" to its mission, and when used in conjunction with other privacy tools such as Cspace, Tor, Tails, and TrueCrypt was ranked as "catastrophic," leading to a "near-total loss/lack of insight to target communications, presence..." -(via Wikipedia) So, that being said, my experience with it so far has been that its consistently clearer, more efficient (less delay/lag in conversations), and more reliable than even Skype when calling on crappy wi-fi in Nowhere, Africa to developed countries. The only sacrifice is a very slight tinge in quality (barely noticeable "tinny-ness") and a dropped call once in awhile; both of which I find to be very, very minor annoyances considering my previous comments combined with the level of encryption applied. Well done, Open Whisper Systems.

Exactly what I wanted. I would like to be able choose a bigger font.

This is a game changer. It is incredibly well implemented end-to-end encryption in an open source platform! Signal is the same protocol that WhatsApp now uses, except this platform is completely open source, unlike WhatsApp. Security experts around the globe highly recommend this protocol for good reason. Its easy to use, trivial to setup, and secure- more secure than iMessage (which suffers from weak keys and copies in the cloud). This is so simple to setup and use, its a no-brainer! EDIT: for those asking about why it requires access to your contacts, its the way the app handles the initial key exchange securely. It generates hundreds of keys so you can have your initial contact and exchange of keys done securely from the very first message exchange. Read up on the protocol. Its really quite impressive how its done! Its all open source, so take a look! Its nothing to worry about - it should make you feel even better about the security.

Lies. Says they are not storing your contacts on their servers but they ARE in coded form that they can decode. You cant even freely message someone wout them being in your contacts first. This is absolute fraud UX solely built around getting your data. If he can create a real product people would pay for it but no, he creates a free product as spyware. Moxie, the main invader, says he cares about privacy but steals your metadata. Fraud. This app requires access to your contacts & made by one of the people once behind a popular social network. Its FREE! Shady free. Free means youre the product! Creepers on your address book (even if coded)! They also released a desktop app REQUIRING gmail email? Wha???? Put 2&2 together folks. They are building a social graph of you. True secure should not make you give up personal info or info controlled by an ad company like g. You be the judge. Shady imo. They could easily just give a unique code like how securedrop works & message only known, random secure codes. This app has the ability to map social graphs just like the phantom valuations of other startups bought by social networks. It doesnt need access to your contacts but wants to code your social graph. Legalize speak says just bc Signal devs arent storing your contacts on their servers doesnt mean they arent storing it in coded form so they can map/track your social graph. I call sham. Your contacts are your personal social graph & this company should find a better way to achieve what theyre trying to achieve assuming theyre trustworthy. You figure out the crony bias here... GPG doesnt take your contacts, does it?? No way to prove what they have on github is actually whats on your phone either. If theres enough reason to think twice then you should. ...should not use this until they address & protect against stealing contacts & other things.

This app is great to have a private convo with people who have this app also. I havent ran into any problems communicating.

Really thankful for this app, because I dont want unwarranted snooping on my conversations. Its free too, which is kind. Im no security expert, so I dont actually know how secure it is. Messaging works most of the time, calls can be iffy. I sometimes have trouble calling at all (it says its connected but I cant hear anyone) and when I can hear someone, it isnt always clear and easy to make out what theyre saying.

App freezes at verification step or returns an "Error 0" code. Does not work at all. Total fail.

Its a great app and works really well. Its only real downfall is that there needs to be more users.

As advertised. :)

Does what it should with minimal fuss and real security. Good stuff.

It makes no sense to allow others to overhear us. Use Signal. Keep it quiet.

Tried to "verify" my phone 10 times and it never sent the text message. Off to the garbage can it goes!

Being bullied into providing ALL of my contacts is completely unacceptable. If I could rate this at zero or negative stars I would in a heartbeat.

Looks like its got all the right functionality. Now it just depends on adoption.

Its cool and secure But need update Such as send voice msg,recived attach file is wierd, Video call More privacy .... Please update this app

I love being able to take some privacy back from governments that believe they have a right to have total control over people, listen in on every conversation and monitor your every move. I wish privacy was standard in all communications.

Standards-based, yay! Crashes when you hold your finger in the window, boo!

Actually, allowing the app to access the contacts is a big issue. I found out this company stores the name, number and maybe extra info in their servers when they claim they dont. One way to prove it is when you save a contact in your phone with any name like for ex. "Abc" and any number "123-xxx-xxxx" and if other people have in their contacts stored the number "123-xxx-xxx", it will automatically show the name "Abc" on their phones so the name and number is stored in a server for sure. You will notice in the app duplicate names or names that arent in your contacts. If this company have all this info, the government, anyone with access to their servers or any other entity can track you through your friends or they can be tracked through you. The government or any hacker just need a number and a name to access all peoples life with the help of other softwares. I know this because Ive witnessed a couple of programs working for security purposes. It isnt safe at all! It should use another type of ID like a PIN number or an username in order to avoid tracking and then hopefully be 100% secure in all aspects. The app does a great job when it comes to encryption, though. I hope they change this method soon and stop accessing to contacts list. Every app that accesses your contacts list has the free option of keeping them in their servers. They have access to names, phone numbers, emails, birthdays, profile picture and more by default from your list. If they want they can have the app modify them, too. So giving contacts access to any company or app is a big risk. BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN DOING SO!