Signal - Private Messenger 12+

Absolute Privacy

I got Signal after an LGBTQ doxxing scare a few years ago that forced me to eliminate all social media accounts across the board, for my and my loved one’s safety. I found Signal after carefully researching and vetting the best options, and hands down, Signal is the best. It’s used by major press for anonymous tips and government whistleblowers, it’s that secure and anonymous. Signal is non-profit org based, free, 100% private encrypted, no ads, no data mining. You can speak intimately with loved ones for support when you need it, and not worry about triggering inappropriate and invasive content filters and getting flagged by crisis bots that watch for keywords (Tumblr and Facebook come to mind with that). No sidestepping topics to avoid getting slammed with inappropriate and privacy invasive ads across the web anymore. No more having to misspell things to prevent an onslaught of ads across the web. Your information and content will never be used or sold. No harassment from strangers finding your profile and starting up on you like on social media. You control how findable you are. ~Absolute peace and quiet.~ It’s the first chat app I’ve experienced that’s been stalker and drama-free… and I’ve been using chat apps since the 90s.

There’s audio calls, video calling, stickers* (you need to install them separately, for free -it’s quick and easy-, or can even custom make your own), and other features that you expect from a chat app.

Definitely worth it.

Nightmare editing messages on my iPhone XR

I don’t know if this disfunction is related to the particular phone (iPhone XR) that I am using Signal on now or if it is the same on other phones, but the “cursor” control on Signal is a disaster now. It is a nightmare trying to move the cursor to where you want it, or to highlight a specific section of your message. I am completely unable to move the cursor more than a couple lines away from its current location at a time (and the text window doesn’t extend to more than 4 lines tall), so i have to scroll a couple lines away, click somewhere to move the cursor in the direction of where i want it to go, and repeat over and over again until it finally gets there. 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.
Highlighting a portion of your message is impossible; it jumps from one end of the message to the other and will not allow you to scroll slowly to where you want to stop highlighting. It is so stupid ~ I recommend typing messages in another app and then pasting it into signal when you are done.
Also, FYI, if you want to copy text from a signal message, hold your finger on the message and then click on the little icon at the bottom of the screen that looks like two pieces of paper - nothing will ever appear that says “copy”.

Developer Response ,

This bug is resolved in the most recent version of the application.

Critical 21st-Century App

Hackers can get a hold of text logs and gather bits of identifying information about you. The world’s leading governments are aiming for a state of omniscience on every citizen’s activity and thoughts. Advertising companies want everything you’ve ever said so they can feed their predictive algorithms and sell their ever more detailed profile of your personal psychology to scammers and politicians who want to manipulate you. Our conversations can be used against us in ways that are hard to predict or even imagine. 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. Its also just a well-featured app better than any text msg app I’ve ever used. IMHO there’s no functional advantage the FAR less secure and private WhatsApp has other than its user base (lots of ppl use whatsapp to bc its a popular app others are on across the world). Signal’s use is growing and will only grow bc the developers have done an amazing job making a smooth job that keeps people safer at a time that we all should jealously guard our information.