Messaging apps Signal and Telegram are experiencing a sudden increase in demand after the competition’s updated terms of service WhatsApp raised eyebrows on social media.
WhatsApp, which uses encryption technology Signal, set new conditions on Wednesday, asking users to agree to allow Facebook and its affiliates to collect user data, including phone number and location.
Some privacy activists have questioned through Twitter the movement to accept data collection or exit the service, and suggested that users switch to applications such as Telegram and Signal.
This app is a safe haven
Signal’s popularity skyrocketed on Thursday after it was mentioned by American businessman and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk, who owns one of the most followed accounts on Twitter, along with Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter.
Signal saw a big jump in new sign-ups after Musk’s tweet advising his followers to use the privacy-focused app, following concerns about WhatsApp’s new privacy policy.
Elon Musk
The best free app
More than 100,000 users have installed Signal via app stores in Google and Apple in the past two days, while Telegram has received nearly 2.2 million downloads, according to data analytics company Sensor Tower.
Signal posted a tweet explaining that it has become the best free app on the App Store in India, Austria, France, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong and Switzerland.
It appears that the increase in new signal subscriptions has been so great that verification codes are delayed for a small number of network providers.
The WhatsApp competitor went to Twitter to confirm that it was receiving many new requests for joins, and this sudden rush caused verification codes to be delayed by network providers, but the bug was quickly fixed and users should now be able to register without any hindrance.
Escape from WhatsApp
Aside from Signal, there are also a lot of users who seem to turn away from WhatsApp and join Telegram, which sends a notification to users when their contacts join the platform.
Sensor Tower said: The new WhatsApp installs decreased by 11% in the first seven days of 2021 compared to the previous week, but this is still estimated at 10.5 million downloads worldwide.
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