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1. New default: Your phone number will no longer be visible in Signal
2. You can create an optional username to connect without sharing your phone number
3. You can enable a new, optional privacy setting to require people to connect with you via username instead of phone number

A Signal username isn't the profile name that’s displayed in chats, and isn't visible to the people you chat with on Signal. A username is simply a way to initiate contact on Signal without having to share your phone number. (You still need a phone number to sign up for Signal.)

Create a username by going to your Settings > Profile. Your username must be unique, and can be changed at any time.

We’re launching these updates to our beta users now, and will be turning them on for everyone running the latest version of the Signal app soon. Our goal is to listen to your feedback, make adjustments, and ensure phone number privacy on Signal is easy and useful for everyone.

You can sign up for beta to test these features. Note that Apple caps the number of iOS beta testers, and we have reached that limit. If you use Signal on iOS, you can get around this by signing up for Desktop beta, linked to your iOS account. See more: https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007318471-Signal-Beta

@signalapp Hello Signal. Is it still the case that Signal no longer functions as a 'normal' SMS app? Loved it when I could use Signal for that as well as secure comms.

@bytebro @signalapp that hasn't worked for months... (a year maybe?) doubt it's ever coming back.

@mosttoast @bytebro
I thought they deliberately got rid of it because it can't be secure, and then it dilutes what the app is recognized for.

@kauffy @mosttoast Sure, I get that and I'm not criticising them at all, but it was great having a tidy app which did both...

@bytebro @kauffy @kauffy
I get why they made a decision, imo when it comes to the network effect of 'which app do i use for e2e messaging?' most people already use whatsapp, so now i have 3 apps, and guess which 2 i use the most? the 2 everyone else already uses. it was nice having the signal exist as a 'default sms drop in replacement' but now it exists as a whatsapp replacement. I digress anyway, guess It still bothers me. hope it works out well for them, truely.

@ckrypto @bytebro

Everything is a tradeoff innit.

Yes, they had good reasons to remove it, but they also had good reasons to keep it, and had to choose between the two sets of good reasons.

Personally I think the reasons to keep it were better than the reasons to get rid of it, but hey it's not my company...

@falsafa @signalapp
It's cause they want to add a security feature kind of and many more people with same username

@Satya8806 @signalapp I see

@falsafa @signalapp
You can join here If you want to its an Unofficial signal community https://signal.group/#CjQKIGLY9xAH9BQaWynrOlPCx0Owi3d8BZ4o1Ruiok2219NdEhBkUMCFuIWbjoag1V59tKDv
Make sure to hide your phone number before joining in privacy settings

@Satya8806 @signalapp Thanks,
I think I will peep in

@daj @signalapp we'd run out of usernames eventually

@Drew@urbanists.social @signalapp@mastodon.world
Like any service! Optional digits or be more creative with the username.

So many people will use their birth year, or date. Which I think is a step towards a security risk

@daj @signalapp once a username is created it can never be used again but you can move on to another. Eventually putting digits at the end will be mandatory anyway as all usernames would be used up.

@Drew@urbanists.social @signalapp@mastodon.world Yeah, like any service.
Using your argument, in theory, two digits is not enough. There are more than 99 Davids I would bet. LOL We're very common

@daj @signalapp you can have up to 4 digits and as they get used it'll expand

@Drew@urbanists.social @signalapp@mastodon.world Only lets me type two.

Anyway, we are where we are with it. I'm not a fan but I am a nobody, just a user.

UPDATE: I mis-understood the error. I entered 001 and it rejected, however it's actually rejected a double zero (oddly), and I can use more digits.

Not that I know anyone on Signal to message! LOL

@Magess @signalapp yep (covered in the post)