It’s a hard time for the Signal app right now. Why? Because it’s currently witnessing a sudden surge in its downloads by people across the globe!
According to Macrumors, encrypted messaging app Signal saw huge delays in just verifying phone numbers on Thursday. Because many people suddenly began downloading and using it. The unexpected boom in its popularity is due to WhatsApp‘s recent privacy policy changes.
The app’s official Twitter account shared the news recently. It mentioned how difficult it became for the platform to manage endless verifications regarding new registrations.
Is Signal signaling towards a new messaging app’s era?
Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement). We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible. Hang in there.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 7, 2021
Well, it won’t be incorrect to say that the last decade belonged to WhatsApp, completely. Its huge popularity kept increasing from the pre-2010 period till the present day. However, the moment Facebook acquired it a few years ago, things changed drastically, although gradually. And they have surely made a big impact on how the app’s initial objective has witnessed a contradiction.
In the past, WhatsApp intended to provide very secure and safe conversations among its users. But its very objective now seems faded away after Facebook took many unexpected steps.
Finally, what acted as a “nail in the coffin” is the recent privacy policy update notification that triggered many users on the app. What this new change exactly means is sharing the personal chat data of the people with Facebook. It’s absolutely wrong from a portal that says that it provides end-to-end encryption because there remains no relevance if the users’ personal data keeps getting shared outside their chat boxes!
And this is what Signal has tried to defy since its initial introduction just a while ago. It wasn’t long ago when it made its official arrival on Android and iOS stores. Following many beta versions and trials, the platform developers released it in an attempt actually to give a “secure chat experience.” The current surge in its usage and new registrations is a result of WhatsApp’s own mistakes.
Meanwhile, it will be intriguing to observe, in the coming decade, whether the encrypted messaging app becomes the new king of chat platforms or not.
Privacy is now a priority
All recent transformations in technology giants trying to rule over user data are now seeing critical side effects. And it has happened especially after Apple’s revolutionary stance towards making privacy the top priority. Thanks to iOS 14 and its emphasis on making the user experience actually even better. Since the time its feature of blocking ad-tracking made its debut, the entire topic of user data shifted to a new height. Now, people are more careful, want to become aware of how they are being tracked. And most importantly, they have the right to know how their data is shared with many endless third-party services.
And thus, Signal also seems to be a big step in the right direction. This year might see unexpected things happening in the technology sector when it comes to data privacy.
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