WhatsApp to Signal

20 min Easy

Illustration by Florian Biege

Signal offers everything you're used to from WhatsApp – but without any commercial interests and with greater respect for you and your data.

A huge number of people are already using Signal. The app is ad-free and doesn't share your data. It is also end-to-end encrypted and is regularly audited by independent experts.

Signal is currently the focus of media coverage because state actors have apparently gained access to chats involving, amongst others, federal politicians. Similar attacks have also been carried out on other messaging apps (such as WhatsApp). Users were tricked into revealing information (“phishing”), which granted the attackers access (“social engineering”) – however, in our view, the technological security of the Signal messaging service in general is not in question. Alternatives to Signal, which we mention in our recommendations, would be equally vulnerable to such attacks (Mike Kuketz has written a good analysis on the subject (in German).

If you decide to switch to Signal, you can start right away:

Different ways to cook

Our digital switch recipes provide an easy, simple way to give Big Tech the push, but there are other options available. We have tried to make it easy by focusing on a single approach and a small number of options, but there are other alternatives that are just as good. After all, what we mean by ‘good’, ‘not so good’ and ‘bad’ is open to debate: DI.DAY is about easy ways to give Big Tech the push (without getting into purism or being preachy). Our decisions are based on advice from our advisory panel.

An overview of the alternatives is available on the next page:

Alternatives to Big Tech

Ingredients

Download Signal from the app store or from signal.org.

Preparation

1 Sign up using your phone number

This is for identification purposes only; it won't be visible to others later.

2 See which of your contacts are already on Signal

The easiest way to do this is to allow Signal to access your phone contacts (address book). Signal will then automatically show you who's already on the app by using a small padlock symbol.

3 That’s it! You are now on Signal!

Dessert

Fun fact: Data expert Mike Kuketz has been recommending Signal for years as the best alternative to WhatsApp – not only because of the technology, but because the project operates transparently, as a non-profit, and without commercial dependencies.

1 It’s very easy to invite friends to join Signal, too

Once you've imported your contacts, Signal creates a message for you.

2 Move your groups to Signal

Create a new group in Signal with your contacts, activate the “group link”, and share it in your old WhatsApp group – that makes it easy for members to join.

3 Enable ‘Disappearing messages’ for sensitive chats

They delete themselves automatically after a customisable period (5 seconds to 4 weeks). This can be adjusted at any time per individual chat or across all chats.

4 Delete WhatsApp when you’re ready

First deactivate or completely delete your account, then uninstall the app from your device. This ensures that your account is permanently removed from the WhatsApp servers and your data will no longer be synchronised.

Enjoy your meal! You have just taken a big step towards a more independent digital existence.

Once you #DIDit – share our post about the digital switch and inspire others to take control of their own digital lives!

Topping

There are, of course, alternatives to Signal if you are interested: Threema or Element (messaging via the Matrix system). The Initiative Free Messenger and others recommend messengers based on the XMPP standards (and true connoisseurs can host both Matrix and XMPP servers themselves).

View more recipes

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