Signal is a chat app for iPhone and Android that we’ve been using for years. It features the same end-to-end encryption for protecting the contents of messages like iMessage and WhatsApp and has the added benefit that it hardly collects any user data. Signal rose to prominence this year when WhatsApp’s planned privacy changes came to light. Facebook reminded users that WhatsApp would share more user data with Facebook, and that’s when millions of people downloaded Signal and Telegram. WhatsApp will remain end-to-end encrypted, but Facebook’s hunger for data is an excellent reason to move to an alternative chat app.
Later, Signal blasted security firm Cellebrite’s software that law enforcement use to break into encrypted iPhones and Androids that are part of active investigations. Signal found critical security flaws in Cellebrite’s apps that had immediate consequences and potential legal ramifications.