Signal - Private Messenger

Submitted by Andrew, 28 January, 2017
Last updated on 4 October, 2017
Category
Social Networking

Description of App

PRIVACY THAT FITS IN YOUR POCKET

“Use anything by Open Whisper Systems.
— Edward Snowden, Whistleblower and privacy advocate

“Signal is the most scalable encryption tool we have. It is free and peer reviewed. I encourage people to use it everyday.
— Laura Poitras, Oscar winning filmmaker and journalist

“I am regularly impressed with the thought and care put into both the security and the usability of this app. It's my first choice for an encrypted conversation.
— Bruce Schneier, internationally renowned security technologist

“After reading the code, I literally discovered a line of drool running down my face. It’s really nice.
— Matt Green, Cryptographer, Johns Hopkins University

Signal is an app that allows for private messaging and calling on iPhone and Android. Some features:

<ul>
<li> Say Anything - Send high-quality group, text, picture, and video messages, all without SMS and MMS fees.
<li> Be Yourself - Use your existing phone number and address book. There are no separate logins, usernames, passwords, or PINs to manage or lose.
<li> Stay Private - We cannot read your messages, and no one else can either. Everything is always end-to-end encrypted and painstakingly engineered in order to keep your communication safe.
<li> Get Organized - Archive functionality makes it easy to keep track of the conversations that matter to you right now.
<li> Speak Freely - Make crystal-clear phone calls to people who live across town, or across the ocean, with no long-distance charges.
<li> Pay Nothing - The development team is supported by community donations and grants. There are no advertisements, and it doesn't cost anything to use. </ul>

Version

2.6.15

Free or Paid

Free

Apple Watch Support

No

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

10.2.1

Accessibility Comments

As promised, I am updating my review. Either I was being very inept earlier or a recent update fixed the only problem I was having. As a note to Voiceover users, if you want to access conversation settings for a contact you should do a long tap on their name at the top of your conversation screen.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Other Comments

I highly recommend this app for everyone, and hope it will be the future gold standard for communication. Also kudos to the Signal team for making end-to-end encryption simple and accessible.

App Store Link

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/signal-private-messenger/id874139669

Developer's Website

https://whispersystems.org/

Developer's Twitter Username

@whispersystems

Recommendations

4 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Andrew 8 months 3 weeks ago

Options

Comments

By KE7ZUM

6 years 1 month ago

Anyoen kow how good the audio quality of signel is? Is it like a face time call? A voice memos app? I want this audio to be very clear, not like google's new app or even iMessage. Yuck.

By mendi

6 years 1 month ago

It appears this might not be a good alternative to Roger, as it allows voice calls but not voice messages, unless I'm missing something here. You can text and send pics, but no voice clips. Not sure if I'll keep this one around.

By David Lai

5 years 1 month ago

I've tested with the Signal app, and you can send audio messages. It sounds very much like what's recorded on VoiceMemos. Yousimply do a double tap and hold on the "voice memo" button and start talking. Then, release your finger to send the message. However, there's a bug with VoiceOver, as the app will turn all sounds off, seemingly. All you need to do after sending the message is to invoke Siri, and then all sounds will return to your phone speaker or headset.

By kool_turk

5 years 1 month ago

Just wondering, how different is this compared to something like whatsapp?

Whatsapp also claim to do end to end encription.

And is it really so private if your number shows up at the other end?

By Mlth

4 years 4 months ago

Hi
In the recent versions of Signal, the settings icon is inaccessible to VoiceOver, though one is able to tap randomly in the corner with VoiceOver disabled, and still get into settings. This is not a viable solution though.
Has anyone found a solution for this? I wrote Signal support, so they'll hopefully be fixing it.

Best
Malthe

By Mlth

4 years 3 months ago

Hi
Just wanted to note that in the latest beta of Signal, the settings button is back for VoiceOver users.

Best
Malthe

Thanks for adding those bug reports and feature requests! Since I originally wrote the Signal post here it's been sad to see the state of accessibility slowly decline as other new features have taken priority. I think in this case it's a function of a small team not understanding what makes an app not just compliant but intuitive and enjoyable to use. Hopefully our continued pushes will result in some positive change there.

By Falco

2 years 1 month ago

Hello,

I just received a response from the Signal team. I will post it here and I hope other voice-Over users will post their feedback on the new forum category:

***

Hi Daan,

We apologize for the difficulties with VoiceOver and thank you for bringing it to our attention. The community forum posts are great. I have passed along the feedback you shared with our Designers. I'm sure we'll have some questions along the way as we make these improvements.

There's a new category on the community forum specifically for you to list out issues and we want you to post there first. Here is the link:
https://community.signalusers.org/c/a11y/32

We want you to post there because we want to hear feedback from others and we want the accountability to improve this experience for you. We've had phone calls with VoiceOver users in the past and want to make Signal operable and robust for all users including deaf and motor impairment.

***