PRIVATE LIFE: Secure messaging app, Signal, tops downloads on Apple Store and Google Play platforms in several countries
The secure messaging application is booming! Since its competitor WhatsApp warned Thursday that it would share more data with its parent company Facebook, Signal has been at the top of downloads on the Apple Store and Google Play platforms in several countries.
After the publication of messages from WhatsApp users who have expressed on social networks their intentions to use more of its competitor Signal, like the emblematic boss of Tesla Elon Musk, the free application is at the top of the downloads in India, Germany, France, or Hong Kong, she announced on Twitter on Saturday.
We continue to shatter traffic records and add capacity as more and more people come to terms with how much they dislike Facebook’s new terms. If you weren’t able to create a new group recently, please try again. New servers are ready to serve you.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 10, 2021
The influx of new connections has caused some technical issues
To better win over its new users, Signal even published a tutorial to help them easily import their group conversations from another messaging app. So much so that the influx of new connections caused some technical problems between Thursday and Friday. “The verification codes are currently delayed (…) because a lot of new people are trying to join Signal now,” said the company.
Launched in 2014, Signal is considered by specialists as one of the most secure messaging applications on the market thanks in particular to its ability to encrypt “end-to-end” messages or audio and video calls.
Used by whistleblowers and recommended by the European Commission
The application has become very popular among whistleblowers and journalists, in particular thanks to the public support of Edward Snowden, the origin of the revelations on the processes of the American secret service to monitor telecommunications. In February, the European Commission even recommended it to its teams, in particular, to secure exchanges with people outside the organization.
WhatsApp has been under fire since Thursday after asking its roughly two billion users to agree to new terms of service , allowing it to share more data with its parent company Facebook. Users who decline will no longer be able to access their account from February 8.
