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Signal

COMMS
Velocity0.0

End-to-end encrypted messaging app and protocol, known for privacy-focused chat, voice, and video calls.

signal.org ↗

Closing the UX gap while pushing the crypto frontier.

privacypost-quantumbackupsmessagingux-paritythreat-model
◆Current state
Signal is running two parallel programs: a cryptographic agenda (post-quantum ratchet, defenses against Microsoft Recall) and a long-overdue UX parity push (secure backups, polls, pinned messages, group labels). The product has matured past pure privacy infrastructure and now ships features mainstream users have asked for for years. Each direction reinforces the brand: still the most paranoid messenger, but no longer the one that loses your chat history when your phone breaks.
◆Where it's heading
The cadence over the last 12 months shows a deliberate alternation between cryptographic milestones and feature catch-up. Backups, polls, pinned messages, and group labels are the kind of work Signal historically deferred; shipping them in quick succession signals a strategic decision to remove every easy reason a user might leave for WhatsApp or iMessage. Meanwhile SPQR positions the protocol for the next decade of cryptographic threat models, keeping the security story intact while the UX story finally catches up.
◆Prediction
Secure backups will graduate from Android beta to iOS and Desktop within the next two releases. Expect another round of feature-parity work — message editing depth, richer media handling, or reactions — before the next protocol-level cryptographic move.

◆Recent moves

  1. 2mo ago

    Label yourself

    Group member labels let users tag people by their role (family, coworker, neighbor) inside a chat. Useful organizational UX in a product that historically resisted any group-chat metadata. Fits the recent pattern of closing small UX gaps against WhatsApp and Telegram.

    View source ↗
  2. 3mo ago

    Put a pin in it

    Pinned messages arrive in 1-1 and group chats. Pure feature-parity work — WhatsApp, Telegram, and iMessage have shipped this for years. Notable mostly because Signal kept saying no to it and now isn't.

    View source ↗
  3. 6mo ago

    Signal Polls: Yes, no, maybe (yes!)

    Polls land in group chats. Another mainstream feature Signal had historically declined to build. The fact that polls, pins, and group labels all shipped within four months is the signal: feature parity is now an explicit goal, not an embarrassment.

    View source ↗
  4. 7mo ago

    Signal Protocol and Post-Quantum Ratchets

    ⚡ SPARK

    Signal introduces the Sparse Post Quantum Ratchet (SPQR), a protocol-level upgrade that keeps forward secrecy and post-compromise security while hardening the Double Ratchet against future quantum attacks. Cements Signal's role as the reference implementation other end-to-end systems benchmark against.

    View source ↗
  5. 8mo ago

    Introducing Signal Secure Backups

    ⚡ SPARK

    Secure backups begin rolling out in Android beta — the single most-requested feature in Signal's history. Closes the long-standing 'lose your phone, lose your chats' gap that pushed many users to less private alternatives. The opt-in design preserves the privacy posture.

    View source ↗
  6. 1y ago

    By Default, Signal Doesn't Recall

    ⚡ SPARK

    Signal Desktop enables Screen security by default on Windows 11 specifically to block Microsoft Recall from indexing Signal chats. A pointed product decision aimed at a single platform threat — and a public statement that local-host adversaries are now in Signal's threat model.

    View source ↗