Signal messaging app crashes as people rush to WhatsApp alternative

WhatsApp will soon start sharing more data with Facebook and users want out

Private messenger service Signal's registration system crashed on Thursday after many new users attempted to join the service in their search for a WhatsApp alternative.

Signal acknowledged the issue on Twitter, and urged users to "hang in there" - adding that it was excited about the surge in activity.

"Verification codes are currently delayed across several providers because so many new people are trying to join Signal right now (we can barely register our excitement)," Signal stated in a tweet.

"We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible. Hang in there."

The spike in new registrations for Signal Private Messenger occurred hours after Elon Musk advised his Twitter followers to start using Signal, without any mention of WhatsApp.

Musk's tweet was sent after WhatsApp announced a new privacy policy and terms of service earlier this week, explaining that it plans to share user data with parent company Facebook and its subsidiaries.

The new policy, which comes into effect on 8th February, will enable WhatsApp to share significantly more user data with Facebook.

"As part of the Facebook family of companies, WhatsApp receives information from, and shares information with, this family of companies," WhatsApp's new privacy policy states.

WhatsApp has started informing its users about the new requirement through an in-app alert, asking them to agree to the changes. Users who refuse to accept the revamped privacy policy will lose access to the app completely after 8th February.

WhatsApp's policy update has angered users who want to minimise their data sharing with Facebook. The decision has also irked privacy experts, who have long warned against data pooling among big tech firms.

Signal, which is used by many activists, journalists, researchers, lawyers, politicians and dissidents, is considered a privacy-friendly, trustworthy and secure messaging. It is an open source app that collects very little information about users compared to other private messengers.

Signal also uses an end-to-end encryption protocol to ensure that no person other than the sender and the receiver is able to read messages. It offers voice and video calling as well as text messaging.

The app came into existence after WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton left the company in 2017 after Facebook acquired WhatsApp to join with privacy activist Moxie Marlinspike to create the Signal Foundation.