{"id":8162,"date":"2017-01-03T08:51:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T16:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.hellotech.com\/?p=8162"},"modified":"2023-02-07T01:10:38","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T09:10:38","slug":"signal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal","title":{"rendered":"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Government surveillance is no conspiracy theory and hackers can steal your private details without warning. The historically <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/yahoo-biggest-hack-ever\/\">massive data breach incident at Yahoo<\/a> should offer enough proof of these facts. Naturally, you\u2019d worry about your privacy online and how you can keep digital communications secure from here on out. You\u2019re not alone thinking about these concerns. After seeing our fair share of nasty hacks and leaks this year, we\u2019ve looked around for an app to help keep digital conversations private. We\u2019ve found one: <em>Signal<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-s-signal\">What\u2019s Signal?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/whispersystems.org\/\">Signal<\/a> an encrypted messaging app that lets you send photos and SMS as well as make secure voice calls. Signal is often considered by many as the best of its kind, though there are several others out there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To begin using the app, you sign up using your mobile phone number. Before anything else, though, it&#8217;ll show you who among your friends uses the service. After signing up, you may then send encrypted text and photos to anyone. By default, only you and the recipient can see the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also make secure voice calls over a data network with Signal. Calls are often preceded by a verification process to help keep them private. Overall, Signal is dead simple to use and we\u2019d encourage anyone concerned with online privacy to give it a try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-you-need-to-know-about-signal\">What You Need to Know about Signal<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-signal-s-code-is-open-source\">Signal\u2019s code is open source<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike its direct competitors, the app\u2019s code is freely available to the public. This is how the developers gain help from experts in inspecting flaws or <a href=\"http:\/\/searchsecurity.techtarget.com\/definition\/back-door\">back doors<\/a> within the application\u2019s security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-its-developers-are-supported-entirely-by-donations-and-grants\">Its developers are supported entirely by donations and grants<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>With no business model and advertising targets to speak of, Signal is virtually free from ads. That\u2019s probably why its makers intentionally store as little user data as possible. In other words, the company has little interest in covertly keeping and selling your details to corporate partners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-app-offers-end-to-end-encryption-by-default\">The app offers end-to-end encryption by default<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Every message you send is scrambled so it\u2019s virtually indecipherable to anyone who eavesdrops on the conversation. It remains this way even as it passes through the app\u2019s server. No wonder it has earned praise from former CIA whistleblower, Edward Snowden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-signal-s-technology-is-the-standard-used-by-other-secure-messaging-systems\">Signal\u2019s technology is the standard used by other \u201csecure\u201d messaging systems<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The technology used for Signal is so secure that it sets the standards by which other messaging services follow. Even with that, security experts like Bruce Schneier and Matt Green prefer Signal over others because of its tough encryption and unwavering drive to protect user privacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-the-app-works-on-every-imaginable-device\">The app works on every imaginable device<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Signal works across various devices, whether you plan to run one on a desktop computer or a mobile phone. Its ability to synchronize between gadgets is mighty impressive when you consider the fact that Signal doesn\u2019t even record any personal information about you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-you-can-download-and-use-signal-absolutely-free\">You can download and use Signal absolutely FREE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The app isn\u2019t just easy to install, you can download it free for <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/signal-private-messenger\/id874139669?mt=8\">iOS<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms&amp;hl=en\">Android<\/a> devices. For computers, simply enable its free add-on on a Google Chrome browser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-signal-app-alternatives\">Signal app Alternatives?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As mentioned earlier, Signal isn\u2019t the only encrypted messaging app at your disposal. The more popular <em>WhatsApp<\/em>, <em>Facebook&nbsp;<\/em><em>Messenger<\/em>, and <em>Google Allo&nbsp;<\/em>all share the same encrypted feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike Signal, though, WhatsApp retains certain meta data on conversations. This may include phone numbers used in exchanges as well as the times when messages were sent. Plus, it regularly accesses contacts to provide you with an up-to-date list of contacts that use the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Facebook\u2019s Messenger also provides end-to-end encryption. Where it differs with Signal is that it only enables this feature inside a private chat mode: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/help\/messenger-app\/1084673321594605?helpref=uf_permalink\">Secret Conversations<\/a>. Under normal circumstances, Messenger chat doesn\u2019t offer encryption at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there\u2019s Google\u2019s newest messaging app, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/google-allo\/\">Google Allo<\/a>. By default, it offers full encrypted messaging via Incognito sessions that you need to enable manually. The messaging service doesn\u2019t enable encryption most of the time because the app requires your data to leverage artificial intelligence. In other words, Google typically stores every one of your Allo messages on its servers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We think anybody concerned about online privacy should give Signal a try. It\u2019s a cinch to use and architecturally secure that you could be saying whatever any time, confident that no one could be spying on you. Feel free to use it exclusively for sensitive matters and work-related exchanges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep in mind, though, that encryption can only do so much to stop the NSA or the most cunning cyber criminals from stealing your data. Even so, we\u2019re sure you\u2019d rather have some level of protection against snoops and hacks any day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government surveillance is no conspiracy theory and hackers can steal your private details without warning. The historically massive data breach incident at Yahoo should offer enough proof of these facts. Naturally, you\u2019d worry about your privacy online and how you can keep digital communications secure from here on out. You\u2019re not alone thinking about these concerns. After seeing our fair share of nasty hacks and leaks this year, we\u2019ve looked around for an app to help keep digital conversations private. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17582,17593],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mobile","category-staying-safe"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.10 (Yoast SEO v20.10) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download - The Plug - HelloTech<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After seeing our fair share of nasty hacks this year, we\u2019ve looked around for an app to help keep digital conversations private. We\u2019ve found one: Signal.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download - The Plug - HelloTech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Government surveillance is no conspiracy theory and hackers can steal your private details without warning. The historically massive data breach incident\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Plug - HelloTech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-01-03T16:51:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-07T09:10:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/signal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@HelloTech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@HelloTech\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c\"},\"headline\":\"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-03T16:51:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-07T09:10:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal\"},\"wordCount\":811,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Mobile &amp; Phone\",\"Staying Safe\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal\",\"name\":\"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download - The Plug - HelloTech\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-01-03T16:51:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-07T09:10:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"After seeing our fair share of nasty hacks this year, we\u2019ve looked around for an app to help keep digital conversations private. We\u2019ve found one: Signal.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Plug - HelloTech\",\"description\":\"Turn to The Plug for informative tech news that you can use. \",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"HelloTech\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":174,\"caption\":\"HelloTech\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HelloTech\",\"http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hello_tech\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCIR-fbAKRfVuAbciDr2z4nQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download - The Plug - HelloTech","description":"After seeing our fair share of nasty hacks this year, we\u2019ve looked around for an app to help keep digital conversations private. We\u2019ve found one: Signal.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download - The Plug - HelloTech","og_description":"Government surveillance is no conspiracy theory and hackers can steal your private details without warning. The historically massive data breach incident","og_url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal","og_site_name":"The Plug - HelloTech","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech","article_published_time":"2017-01-03T16:51:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-07T09:10:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":426,"url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/signal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@HelloTech","twitter_site":"@HelloTech","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c"},"headline":"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download","datePublished":"2017-01-03T16:51:57+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-07T09:10:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal"},"wordCount":811,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Mobile &amp; Phone","Staying Safe"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal","name":"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download - The Plug - HelloTech","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-01-03T16:51:57+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-07T09:10:38+00:00","description":"After seeing our fair share of nasty hacks this year, we\u2019ve looked around for an app to help keep digital conversations private. We\u2019ve found one: Signal.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/signal#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Signal is the Secure Messaging App Everyone Should Download"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/","name":"The Plug - HelloTech","description":"Turn to The Plug for informative tech news that you can use. ","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"HelloTech","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/HT-logo-revised-final.png","width":1000,"height":174,"caption":"HelloTech"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hellotech","https:\/\/twitter.com\/HelloTech","http:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hello_tech","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCIR-fbAKRfVuAbciDr2z4nQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dec00225dd888a509740ace5e4d9de6c","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbb537d18df244ad7d57a3639d94ede5cd90bf1fb742392af5731beaf11ffeb1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hellotech.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}