With the recent course of events, we’ve seen a shift in user preference when it comes to social network apps, Signal has kept its name in the mix for the past weeks or so, and you’ve probably seen its name or logo online somewhere.
So what is Signal? As explained by Wikipedia, Signal is a cross-platform encrypted messaging service developed by the Signal Foundation and Signal Messenger. It uses an internet connection to send one-to-one, and group messages. Which can include files, voice notes, images, and videos.
In simpler terms, Signal is a social network app, much like Whatsapp or Telegram, allowing users to communicate through messages, videos, voice, video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other media types.
As the description indicates in the app store:
“Millions of people use Signal every day for free and instantaneous communication anywhere in the world. Send and receive high-fidelity messages, participate in HD voice/video calls, and explore a growing set of new features that help you stay connected.”
The Signal Team
How did Signal approach the 1 million download?
The premise of these kinds of messaging apps (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, etc.) was initially to be a better SMS alternative, at least for WhatsApp, which is the leading app in this category. By now, we all know how traditional SMS can be limited by location/countries and provides fewer features or a better user interface.
Apps like Signal, allow the user to break the Geolocation barrier and enable them to communicate with other users around the world as long as they have an internet connection.
Signal prides itself on its end to end encryption feature, which is powered by the open-source Signal protocol, and also on how light and fast the app is. The developers claim that Signal has been optimized to operate in the most constrained environment possible for a better user experience.
Signal is also completely independent, as it was founded by Signal Foundation, a non-profit project. Meaning there is no advertisement on the platform, no data is collected and user activity is not tracked.
Signal was founded back in 2014 by the Signal Foundation, Signal Messenger, and many other contributors (developers). The Signal Foundation is an American non-profit organization founded in 2018 by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton. Its mission is to develop open-source privacy technology that protects free expression and enables secure global communication.
• Fun fact: Brian Acton is the mastermind who, with (Jan Koum), co-founded WhatsApp, which is (as you probably know by now) a mobile messaging application similar to Signal. WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for US$19 billion.
In September 2017, Acton left WhatsApp, he later told Forbes that
“he left over a dispute with Facebook regarding the monetization of WhatsApp, and voluntarily left $850 million in unvested options on the table by leaving a few months before vesting was completed. He also noted that he was coached by Facebook executives to mislead European regulators regarding Facebook’s intention to merge Facebook and WhatsApp user data”.
Forbes.
Acton left WhatsApp in September 2017 to pursue new ventures, particularly a new foundation, the Signal Foundation, which is dedicated to helping people have access to private communication through an encrypted system.
Ever since the first release, Signal has been slowly growing over the years. Up until a month ago when Whatsapp updated its terms and services.
Whatsapp had always been known for its privacy, speed, and easy user interface when Aton was there.
Ever since Facebook acquired WhatsApp, we’ve seen multiple changes over the years and people have grown wary of what the future would look like considering Facebook’s track record in regards to user’s privacy and data management.
In early January of 2021, WhatsApp released a new update to its terms and services causing some concerns among its users. Users had to agree to the terms and services to keep using the app.
This update made some noise in the tech industry and shined some light on other messaging apps not collecting or tampering with user’s data.
Signal now sees itself as the 2nd downloaded app in the Social networking category just behind Telegram on the App Store. Although Signal held the number one spot for a couple of days, they dropped to number two due to a huge number of users signing up all at once, causing a strain on their servers. As of January 15th, 2021 the server overload has now caused a global outage.
According to Gadgets 360, Signal has updated them with the following statement:
“We have been adding new servers and extra capacity at a record pace every single day this week, but today exceeded even our most optimistic projections. Millions upon millions of new users are sending a message that privacy matters, and we are working hard to restore service for them as quickly as possible.”
Gadgets 360
We hope their servers will be back up and running very soon.
Read more articles here.
Latest Post
- What do we know about the iPhone 15 so far?
- Google Bringing ChatGPT to Chrome?
- IKEA’s New Smart Air Quality Sensor – VINDSTYRKA
- Opera joins the Artificial Intelligence Race – Opera to add ChatGPT features to its browser
- Google Bard! Google’s answer to ChatGPT fell flat on its face.
- ChatGPT passes MBA Test
