r/signal

I've been trying a slow transition away from WhatsApp, meaning that I use the app only from my browser, I don't have it anymore on my phone.

In addition, I changed my avatar with the text "Write me on Telegram or Signal" , and yet, given that I am every now and then active on WhatsApp, people keep writing me there.

I'm thinking of bruteforcing the transition and just delete WhatsApp once and for all.

Thoughts? What would you do?

This problem seems to apply to Signal on iOS only. It is clearly not an iOS problem given that none of the other common messaging platforms have this issue.

When notifications are switched off, rather than just acknowledge & move on, Signal will ask you to switch them on, then say “We’ll remind you later” and proceed to ask you to switch them on every time the app is reopened. It’s infuriating and from a quick search, this has been going on for 4+ years.

Is this deliberate behaviour? If so why? If not why can’t Signal fix what should be a trivial bug.

Some of us use Signal mostly for group chats and don’t want notifications, or even an unread badge. Sort it out.

If so, how do I find or join them?

Recently, I've started noticing that I'm getting a lot of random ads and promotional messages on WhatsApp. It honestly feels like Meta is tracking everything we do. Sometimes, whatever you chat about seems to show up on Instagram within minutes.

I've been using Signal for the past three years, and I still don't understand why almost no one is willing to switch. Most people already know that WhatsApp isn't great when it comes to privacy, yet they continue using it. Even many people working in IT, who understand these privacy concerns, don't seem interested in moving to Signal.

I guess convenience and network effects win over privacy for most people.

I was thinking, it would be super cool to have a walkie talkie push to talk thing like zello but on signal, as it would be better because of signal's encryption. Might also help new users transition from other messaging apps with the incentive of that feature.

There probably isnt room in the app for that but I thought it would be a cool addition.

Like, I get that one bubble means that the other party hasn't read your text, but what is the difference between the two bubbles that are next to each other when they are blank/empty vs. when they are filled in/full?

Does anyone know?

Why signal decrease the photo quality when sending using high quality? The size remain same but the pixels decrease. Why? Using android.

Horrible security practices on part of The Intercept for protecting anonymous sources. Just an incredible level of neglect on their part. Not sure how long it takes for signal to recycle a username after the account goes dormant, did The Intercept possibly not use that username for almost 4 months?... Unless maybe somehow someone captured it in a security breach, its very unclear.

I understand how username recycling helps with anonymity and are meant to be ephemeral (although most people use them for extended periods) but this is clear that perhaps signal should develop some sort of program to not recycle certain usernames? Maybe it wouldn't work with the architecture...but it seems like this opens up a rather big security flaw for journalists and most tip lines where the usernames are posted on numerous websites online.

Regardless, I still find it crazy the tip line was taken over in February 2026 by the "investigative Intake" impersonator X account and wasn't changed by The Intercept on their website until late June 2026. June 19th being the last snapshot on Archive.org to have their old tip line under source. Wild.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260619184055/https://theintercept.com/source/

So apparently my phone was on in my pocket and I accidently posted an entire random collection of images and panically pressed delete for me. Thankfully it wasnt like nudes and just memes. But im definitely getting a talking at work for something i feel was completely preventable. My work had to change group chats.

Also why the heck did they decide to put "delete for me" as the first option, its like theyre actively trying to stop you from deleting.

I recently upgraded my iPhone SE2 to a 17e. I set the SE2 up as sort of a PDA, where it's on wifi and I can do most things with it. I even have Google Voice on it so I can make wifi calls. The one thing I can't seem to do is use Signal on it. I'm thinking that's because Signal recognizes that it's a cell phone and wants to set it up as the primary device, correct? I don't suppose it's possible to work around that and set it up as just another linked device, like an iPad?

pretty much the title. i'm having issues linking a device with Molly to my main device with Signal as of late. it's only been recently that this has been happening, both Molly and Signal are up to date.

hi, i'm clueless about online privacy so eli5 please.

my estranged family is trying to reconnect. however the culture where i'm from is fairly severe and in the craziest most extreme cases abducting a wayward runaway child to restore the family's honor is not off the table, so i want to be extra careful.

if i were to message my sister with a signal username, no phone number, data and location turned off, public wifi, with proton vpn, can i be impossible to locate?

if not, what could i do to be untraceable? i'm willing to put in the effort and spend money if necessary.

thanks!

There seems to be quite a bit of nuance with private/hidden texting dialogue online.

Im not sure if Ive found what Im looking for or if Im misunderstanding how to set it up correctly.

Im looking for a private/hidden texting app that I can for example isolate and text a contact without requiring them to have the same app (if this makes sense) in other words, nothing changes on their end but Id like to isolate the convo from my native android sms app.

For clarity, when they reach out my native sms doesnt get alerted, its contained within the said app.

I used to have an app like this years ago, I believe it was even before smart phones. I dont recall the name. Does such an app exist today?

My phone is completely broken and won’t turn on. I am getting a new one soon. When I activate my signal account, will I receive messages that were sent to me that have not been delivered?

So I have a dumb-phone (Nokia with KaiOS) which basically only supports SMS. I am trying to use the same set-up as I did with WhatsApp, where I download the APK and install it on Waydroid, it sends me a verification code to my dumb-phone, and then I link it to the desktop client.

However, after doing the hCAPTCHA on Waydroid it simply says that it can't send an SMS to the phone number I provided and to wait a few hours. I am going to try again soon but is there anything else I should try to allow it to send a message to my phone?

Last time I needed to transfer my Signal history I had to sit in an Apple Store for 2-3 hours, without access to the new (or old) phone, to wait while my message history was opaquely transferred between devices. The time before that (at home) took something like 10 attempts for it to go through, with each time taking forever before failing and no insight into why.

This time, I simply said I was transferring via Secure Backups, scanned the QR code, and boom... account moved, messages near instantly transferred, and the rest of the data was downloaded to my phone (in the background) a few mins later. Fantastic!

I was one of the people complaining (for years) about why encrypted backups couldn't just be stored in iCloud. I understood the technical/privacy reasons why, but given the fact that there was no alternative, I couldn't understand why Signal didn't allow users to opt-in to storing an automatic encrypted backup in iCloud or manually storing one in a location of their choosing.

Though it took some time, I'm glad this solution is here, I'm really happy that they struck a balance between convenience and privacy, and I'm really glad a user can recover some/all of their data even if they lose their phone with the secret keys. It's a great solution and I'm happy to pay for the privilege and support Signal.

Even if you don't care about losing media older than 45 days if you lose access to your phone, this way of transferring data between phones is SO MUCH BETTER than the phone-to-phone transfer that I'd advise paying $2, using this mechanism, and then cancelling it.

Thanks signal team!