Signal says it has seen an influx of registrations for a few hours. The reason ? The spectacular blackout suffered by Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp.
The misfortune of some makes the happiness of others. As Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp suffer a massive outage, the Signal mobile application around the world is getting to know a strong influx of Internet users. This is what the service has just indicated on Twitter this Monday, October 4.
Signups are way up on Signal (welcome everyone!) We also know what it’s like to work through an outage, and wish the best for the engineers working on bringing back service on other platforms #mondays
– Signal (@signalapp) October 4, 2021
” Signups are on the rise on Signal (welcome everyone!) We also know what it’s like to work during an outage, and we wish the engineers who are working to restore service to other platforms the best. Signal wrote on his account. This is not the first time that Signal has taken advantage of the woes of its rivals, but it was not necessarily under these circumstances.
Earlier this year, Signal saw a spike in newcomers when new terms and conditions were announced for WhatsApp. Very criticized because they facilitate the crossing of data between the instant messaging application and Facebook, its parent company, they had led many users to look elsewhere. Telegram had also taken advantage of this.
There is no service that is immune to service interruptions, including internet giants like Facebook – which has ample means to invest in its network to ensure maximum redundancy and resilience in its infrastructure. Of course, its smaller competitors can also experience some setbacks. Signal also had issues, as did Telegram.
Signal’s notoriety also jumped earlier this year, when the earthy American entrepreneur Elon Musk urged his audience on Twitter to favor this app over WhatsApp in the future. His message had its small effect: between him and the new conditions of WhatsApp, the number of downloads of the mobile application had jumped from 10 million to over 50 million in a few days.
Signal, a rival application of WhatsApp
For those who do not know Signal, it is a mobile application (but which also works on a computer) that provides instant messaging. It is free software that enjoys a strong notoriety in the world of cybersecurity, because it offers end-to-end encryption by default for discussions, so that they are not normally accessible by people n ‘not being part of it.
Basically, it works just like WhatsApp. In fact, Signal’s cryptography protocol is used in WhatsApp to encrypt end-to-end conversations, and by default. Signal has a better reputation than Telegram in this area and also provides relatively advanced options to protect itself from prying eyes.
