Why You Should Move Your Messaging to Signal
iMessage is good. Signal is better. Here is why we are switching, in two minutes of reading.
Most of us text on whatever came with the phone. For iPhone users that is iMessage, and it is not bad. It is encrypted. But if privacy matters to you, Signal is a clear step up. Here is why.
Your keys never leave your phone
Signal's encryption keys are created and stored only on your device, never on a server. It even uses post-quantum encryption, so chats sent today stay safe from the much more powerful computers coming later.
No readable cloud copy
iMessage chats usually end up in iCloud backups, and Apple holds the keys to those unless you turn on Advanced Data Protection. Most people never do. Signal keeps no cloud copy of your messages at all.
Almost no metadata
Who you talk to and when can say as much as what you say. Apple keeps records like these. Signal is built to keep almost nothing. When it has been subpoenaed, all it could hand over was when an account was created and when it last connected.
Same protection on every phone
When an Android friend joins an iMessage chat, it falls back to SMS or RCS, which are weaker. Signal works the same, fully encrypted, on iPhone and Android.
Open and checked
Signal is open source, independently audited and run by a nonprofit. Anyone can check how it works. iMessage is closed.
Old messages do not have to live forever
The internet never forgets. Years of texts sit in backups, on old phones and on servers, waiting for a leak, a lost device or a subpoena. Signal lets you turn on disappearing messages for any chat, or as a default for every new one, so old conversations clean themselves up instead of piling up.
AI is raising the stakes on cloud breaches
Big cloud servers are attractive targets, and AI is making attacks on them faster and cheaper. Attackers now use AI to find weak spots, write convincing phishing and sift through what they steal. A breach used to mean a pile of data too big for anyone to read. Today an AI can read years of chat logs in minutes and learn who you know, where you go, what you worry about and what you plan to do next. Any message stored in readable form on someone else's server is part of that pile. Signal's servers never hold your messages in a form they can read, so even a full breach would turn up nothing worth learning.
Making the switch
- Install Signal from the App Store or Google Play. It is free.
- Set a username in your profile so you can share a link instead of your phone number.
- Turn on disappearing messages by default in Settings > Privacy.
- Send that link to your friends and family.
The app is only half the story. Keep your phone updated and use a strong passcode, since the phone itself is the easiest way in.