Why You Should Choose Signal Over WhatsApp

Ansh Mehrey

Mar 25, 2021 — 6 min read

Messaging applications have been an integral part of smartphones since they first hit the market. From SMS to Hike messenger, Smartphone users have had the privilege to choose from a number of different chatting applications, and though WhatsApp has been the more popular choice, this has lead to a major competition of providing the best services.

The most recent WhatsApp update has people concerned about their privacy since this update allows for data sharing of WhatsApp with its parent company, Facebook. A lot of WhatsApp users have thus reconsidered their messaging application choices, and are searching for alternatives to WhatsApp. Although there are a plethora of options including Hike, Telegram, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat among various others, many users have considered Signal as the replacement for the popular messaging application.

Signal Messaging Application
How to Use Signal App?
Signal Messenger Features
WhatsApp
How To Use WhatsApp?
Features Offered by WhatsApp Messenger
Pros and Cons of Both WhatsApp and Signal

Signal Messaging Application

Signal Messaging application has been making rounds as the more popular choice as a chatting application, and for good reason. Signal allows you to share texts, voice messages, gifs, videos, and other files with efficient speed and ease. Be it the quality of video calls through Signal Messenger, or sending encrypted stickers with group chats, Signal offers you state of the art services, only rivaled by the best in the industry.

Concern for Privacy in Signal

In this data-driven world we live in, privacy has become a major concern, and while messaging applications including WhatsApp are losing their active user owing to security and privacy risks in the newer WhatsApp update, Signal has no policy that should concern its users. Signal offers top-notch end-to-end encryption to keep your conversations secure, even from Signal. Every call you make, every voice message or text you send, even Signal cannot read them. Moreover, there are absolutely no ads, affiliate marketers or trackers with Signal, and neither a parent company to share your data with.

How to Use Signal App?

Signal Messenger Features

Signal Messenger offers you a whole bunch of features including viewing message details, managing groups and storage, font size and language options, and a lot more. Below is a brief discussion of Signal messaging application features.

Message details can be viewed including the timestamp, sent, delivered and seen status.
Groups can be created and participants can be added using a group link, QR codes and then later, you can also reset the group link to stop anymore participants from joining.
Group Management features include viewing group members and chat settings, admin, adding and removing members, view pending members and troubleshooting.
Mentions in groups and notification management, forwards, pinning/unpinning texts and various other chatting features are also embedded in the messenger.
You can even mark messages as unread, along with using message reactions and send view once media.
Note to self is another feature that Signal offers which you can use to keep notes and tabs of anything you wish to remind yourself of or take down notes.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging application, with a user base of over 1.3 billion active monthly users. The range of features that it offers instantly made it the popular choice for chatting, and has thus far continued to offer free chatting services. However, in its latest update, the change in its Privacy Policy has a lot of users questioning and addressing security concerns and misuse of their data. The update makes it mandatory for the users to share their data such as phone number and contacts with their parent company, Facebook.

How To Use WhatsApp?

Features Offered by WhatsApp Messenger

WhatsApp offers simple reliable, and intuitive interface, with free messaging; all you need is an internet connection.
Group chats allow you to include 256 people in a single group, be it a classroom, colleagues or work acquaintances.
Send voice notes, make audio and video calls, send audio and video files and communicate without being much concerned about expenses.
The built-in end-to-end encryption helps keep your chat out of the wrong hands, considering even WhatsApp cannot read them.
Efficiently share pictures, pdf, and other files up to 100 MB, and add stories with its built-in camera.

Pros and Cons of Both WhatsApp and Signal

Pros of WhatsApp

WhatsApp offers a very easy and intuitive interface. It is fast, doesn't need any setup, and automatically lists all your contacts that use WhatsApp.
Since it has an established user base of over 1.5 billion users, your friends and family are most likely already using WhatsApp.
WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption using Signal Protocol and implements the same in texts, such that even WhatsApp cannot read the messages.

Cons of WhatsApp

The most recent setback that WhatsApp received was due to its updated Privacy Policy, that suggests WhatsApp can share user data with Facebook, its parent company.
WhatsApp can't be used without a smartphone, and if your phone is damaged, or even the number that you use with WhatsApp is unavailable, you can't use it.
It can be tough to transfer chat history from Android to iOS, or vice versa.
WhatsApp messages are not stored over the server, and while you can share files, the shareable file must be below 100 MB.

Pros of Signal Messaging Application

Signal is a free, open source, and secure messaging application which offers end-to-end encryption, for utmost security of the users' messages.
Signal supports encrypted group chats, and is one of the very few messengers that use open source cryptographic protocols for data privacy.
Signal can also act as your default SMS and MMS sender, which you can use as an alternative of the one that you have on your smartphone.
Share and explore different media files including audio, video, pictures, and gif files all over the country, without any regional censorship.

Cons of Signal Messaging Application

Signal needs you to register with your phone number, and can be operated with just one device at a time.
Sometimes, when you haven't used the application in a long time, the messages might not reach you.

Hike Messenger - An Indian Messaging App That Has Gained Popularity Worldwide!

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