Keep your phone number private with Signal usernames
Signal is introducing usernames and new privacy settings so people can connect without exposing their phone numbers to contacts, while still requiring a phone number for registration. Commenters welcome the step but argue it falls short of true anonymity, raising concerns about phone numbers as global identifiers, metadata collection, spam, app expiry policies, and the lack of multi-device support and backups, especially on iOS. The thread also compares Signal’s centralized, phone-based model to alternatives like Matrix, XMPP, Session, Briar, and Telegram, highlighting trade-offs between usability, federation, and stronger privacy guarantees.
Phone numbers, usernames & anonymity
- New feature lets users share a “username + two digits” instead of a phone number; usernames are only for initial connection and not shown in chats.
- Many welcome being able to hide numbers from other users and from “who’s on Signal” lookups.
- Strong criticism that registration still requires a phone number, which in many countries is tightly linked to government ID; some see this as disqualifying for true anonymity.
- Some argue phone-based identity fits Signal’s original “secure SMS replacement” goal and typical users’ expectations; those wanting full anonymity are told to use other tools (Briar, Session, etc.).
Spam, abuse & account verification
- Pro–phone-number side: unique, scarce identifiers make mass account creation and spam harder; otherwise Sybil attacks are “unsolved”.
- Critics: phone numbers are cheap in bulk, don’t prevent spam in practice, and mainly increase traceability, not safety.
- Suggestions include crypto micro-payments, better product-level controls (message requests, whitelists), and CAPTCHAs.
Security vs availability: forced updates & backups
- Signal clients expire after ~90 days, forcing updates to ensure protocol and app security and to enforce new privacy rules.
- Supporters: delivering to known-insecure clients is unacceptable for a “private” app.
- Critics: messages silently stop working, hitting people with limited data, travel, or in countries where app stores may be blocked; some see this as hostile to users in repressive regimes.
- Backups: Android has local encrypted backups but off-device sync is manual and clunky; iOS has no real backup, only device-to-device transfer. Many report losing years of messages; others argue long-term archives are contrary to privacy goals.
Metadata, cloud storage & trust
- Official line: servers know only phone number, registration time, and last-connection time; “sealed sender” reduces metadata.
- Several posters claim that since introduction of PINs and cloud storage, Signal now keeps encrypted contact graphs and profile data, and that the privacy policy downplays this; they worry about AWS hosting and lawful access or SGX-style attacks.
- Others counter that data is encrypted, threat models already assume hostile servers, and that this still far outperforms WhatsApp/Meta.
Centralization, federation & third‑party clients
- Long debate over Signal’s non-federated, single-operator design vs federated Matrix/XMPP.
- Pro-centralization: federation makes upgrades slow and messy, breaks UX, and led to XMPP/Matrix fragmentation; Signal wants a single coherent system that “just works”.
- Pro-federation: centralized US-based service is a single point of failure and control; people cite Matrix/XMPP as more resilient even if rougher.
- Forks like Molly and Session show third-party clients/servers are possible, but Signal discourages others from using its production servers.
Comparisons & UX issues
- Telegram praised for UX, channels, and non-number-based handles, but heavily criticized for non-default E2EE, server-side access to content, and ties to Russian money/state.
- Matrix seen as powerful and open but often resource-heavy, buggy, and confusing for non-technical users.
- Many complain about legacy behavior where contacts were notified when someone joined Signal, including blocked/abusive exes; a Signal engineer notes this is now off by default and discoverability can be disabled.
- Recurrent wishes: multi-phone support with full history sync, proper cross-device backups, desktop that doesn’t depend on a single phone, and sign-up without any phone number at all.