Encrypted messaging service Signal is now testing usernames, which will offer people a more private way to share their contact details on the app.
Signal kicked off the public test today through a new beta build available in its community forums. "After rounds of internal testing, we have hit the point where we think the community that powers these forums can help us test even further before public launch,” says Signal VP of Engineering Jim O’Leary.
The development is a big deal since Signal—an end-to-end encrypted messaging app—has long required users to sign up with a phone number. That same number also needs to be shared in order to message other users on the app.
This can be problematic since sharing your phone number exposes you to privacy and hacking risks. For example, a contact on Signal could choose to call and message your number over an unencrypted cellular network or pass off the number to someone else.
In response, Signal has been trying to develop usernames as far back as 2019. “What they’ll do is allow people to use Signal without giving anyone else their phone number,” Signal Foundation President Meredith Whittaker told Time magazine in September 2022. “So you can give someone your username, and someone can connect with you on Signal via your username without ever knowing your phone number,” she added.
Still, it’s been tricky for the app to add usernames while also preserving its commitment to privacy, which includes never collecting or storing sensitive information it doesn’t need to operate, such as usernames. Whittaker originally said the username feature would launch during this year’s first half. She’s since said the feature is slated to launch in early 2024.
“It’s taken us a while to do that because it’s a major architectural overhaul,” Whittaker said last month at a Signal event in Bangalore, India.
The test is launching for Android, iOS, and desktop users, and works by pairing the username "with a set of digits and aren't shared on your profile." According to a screenshot of the system, it looks like users will be able to share usernames as a unique QR code. In addition, users will be able to turn off "phone number discovery," making their username the primary contact point to message them on Signal.
But for now, Signal is rolling out usernames through a "staging" beta build, which also imposes several major limitations. “Anybody you wish to talk with in Staging needs to be registered in Staging as well,” O’Leary said. “And it’s likely that push notifications won’t work as well, or potentially at all, during your testing.”
“We know that there are some rough edges in the UX (user interface) at the moment, as you might expect with pre-beta software, so you’re welcome to note issues you find in the UX, but we may already be aware of many of them,” he added.
