Signal messenger app

Hem / Teknik & Digitalt / Signal messenger app

The parties derive new keys for every Double Ratchet message so that earlier keys cannot be calculated from later ones. SMS and MMS are standardized communication protocols that allow mobile devices to send and transmit messages, and most people picking up their phone to text or share memes don’t really think about them.

To give some context, when we started supporting SMS, Signal didn’t exist yet.

signal messenger app

Signal uses your phone’s data connection, so you avoid SMS and MMS fees. If you want to keep them, you’ll also need to export your SMS messages from Signal into that new app.

To check if this is you, go to the Settings in your Signal account. The right to communicate securely and privately is #1 in the Information Age.

That’s why Signal messenger, which has proven time and time again to be the cutting edge of practical, user-friendly communications encryption, is my favorite app ever. Privacy settings keep you in charge of exactly who can see each Story. We know nothing about you or who you’re talking to. Now, data plans are cheaper and far more ubiquitous than they were nearly a decade ago.

Most importantly, again in my humble opinion, it shows that the beautiful and functional front end, the technically impressive back end, and the resulting full stack of this app was developed by engineers that really care for, and have passion for, the privacy and security of their end users as well as privacy and security overall.

I’m not normally a review writer, and when I do I could never be described as being verbose in what I have to say about something I’m reviewing but Signal and the developers behind it deserve all the praise we can muster! ML-KEM Braid is a sparse continuous key agreement protocol that uses ML-KEM to allow two parties to agree on a shared secret key in a way that provides post-quantum forward secrecy and post-compromise security.



Donate to Signal

Technical information

Double Ratchet

This document describes the Double Ratchet algorithm, which is used by two parties to exchange encrypted messages based on a shared secret key.

GitHub is rife with stories of the “Problem Retrieving Data” bug, and there still isn’t a fix. Meaning that you use Signal on Android to receive and send both Signal and SMS messages from within the Signal interface.

If you do use Signal as your default SMS app on Android, you will need to select a new default SMS app on your phone.

It rarely feels good to have to switch up the ways that you communicate with the people who matter to you. You will have several months to transition away from SMS in Signal, to export your SMS messages to another app, and to let the people you talk to know that they might want to switch to Signal, or find another channel if not.

Does this affect you?

If SMS is enabled, you’ll have to export your messages and pick a different default SMS app.

If you don’t want to go through that process now, don’t worry. Privacy isn’t an optional mode — it’s just the way that Signal works. These properties give some protection to earlier or later encrypted messages in case of a compromise of a party's keys.

Sesame

This document describes the Sesame algorithm for managing message encryption sessions in an asynchronous and multi-device setting.

ML-KEM Braid

This document describes the ML-KEM Braid protocol.

It is as smooth and pleasant to use as iMessage for sure. It is so stupid ~ I recommend typing messages in another app and then pasting it into signal when you are done. If i try to move it further than that, the window just jumps back to the area where it is currently located and moves it to some random location nearby. It is a nightmare trying to move the cursor to where you want it, or to highlight a specific section of your message.

Your Signal messages will remain safe, secure, and unchanged.

We understand that this change will be frustrating for those of you who use Signal on Android for SMS messaging in addition to sending Signal messages. We did not make this choice lightly, but we do believe it is necessary to ensure that Signal meets the highest privacy standards for the future.

Our reasoning: Why we’re removing SMS support for Android

There are three big reasons why we’re removing SMS support for the Android app now: prioritizing security and privacy, ensuring people aren’t hit with unexpected messaging bills, and creating a clear and intelligible user experience for anyone sending messages on Signal.

The most important reason for us to remove SMS support from Android is that plaintext SMS messages are inherently insecure.