Signal doesn’t have a comparable user-base when pitted against the likes of Facebook and even, Telegram. But it brings something very fundamental to conversations: Privacy. In a world where privacy violations and secretly collecting user data has become a norm, Signal brings an “unexpected focus on privacy”, as put by the company itself. The messaging app is open-source, comes with end-to-end encryption, and offers several privacy features that you won’t find anywhere else. To help you enjoy the privacy benefits of this app, in this article, we list out the best Signal tips and tricks that can enhance your messaging experience.
Here, you will find all the best features of Signal that will allow you to use the messaging service to your full advantage. You can click on the link below to move to the relevant section. In case, you are interested to learn the difference between Signal vs WhatsApp vs Telegram then head over to our linked article.
- Screen Lock
- Set PIN
- Contact Joined Signal
- Custom Notification
- Pin Chat on Top
- Blur Faces
- Disappearing Messages
- Block Screenshots
- Send One-time Viewable Image
- Note to Self
- Verify Contacts
- Relay Calls
- Create a Local Backup
- Delete Old Messages
- Incognito Keyboard
- Enable Dark Mode
- Use Signal Everywhere
- Photo Editor
1. Enable Screen Lock
If you have just moved to Signal then first off, enable Screen Lock to restrict your messages from unauthorized access. Signal offers a built-in app locker and you don’t have to use third-party app locking apps. The best part is that it supports Android and iOS bio-metric authentication for easy unlock. So tap on your ‘profile icon’ at the top-left corner and open “Privacy”.
While setting up Signal, you must have added a 4-digit PIN but that’s not for app lock. It’s an additional layer for implementing 2-factor authorization. With the recent update, Signal has made it mandatory to set a PIN for reinstallation, backup restore, and identity verification. So if you want to change the PIN or customize other 2FA options then follow this simple Signal trick.
If you are annoyed by the constant “Contact joined Signal” notification then worry not, you can disable it right away. Just tap on your profile icon at the top-left corner. Now, open notifications and scroll down to the bottom. Here, under “Events”, disable the toggle for “Contact joined Signal”. That’s it.
4. Custom Notification
Generally, when you get a message notification, Signal displays the name of the sender and the message. But if you just want to get a notification with the name of the sender without any message then you can customize that on Signal.
Similar to WhatsApp and Telegram, you can pin chats on top of Signal’s homescreen. The best part is that you can pin up to four chats and it works for groups as well. Just press and hold on a chat and tap on the pin icon at the top menu. Easy peasy!
Just recently, Signal announced a new feature that is going to further enhance the privacy of users. Now with just a single tap, you can automatically blur faces on Signal before sharing images. This will help you protect your identity especially when facial surveillance system is on the rise around the globe.
Since Signal is a privacy-oriented messaging service, it has all the essential features you need to have an extremely private and secure conversation. One of them is ‘Disappearing Messages’, also known as Self-destructing messages. Basically, you can set a timer as to when the messages will start disappearing after it has been read by the recipient.
For example, if you set a timer for 5 seconds then messages sent and received in the conversation will disappear 5 seconds after they have been seen from both ends. That’s an amazing Signal trick, right? To use this feature, open a conversation and tap on the 3-dot menu and open “Disappearing Messages”. Now, set the timer, and you are done.
Among the many features of the Signal app, I particularly love this one. Similar to Snapchat, you can restrict users from taking screenshots of chats or anything within the app. In fact, you can’t even take a screenshot from the Recents menu which is just great.
9. Send One-time Viewable Image
Signal has baked this awesome trick from where you can send images, but they can be viewed only once. After that, the image will disappear from both ends. To use this trick, just select the image and then tap on the “infinite icon” located at the bottom-left corner and change it to “1x”. Now, send the image and it will be auto-deleted after the viewer has opened it once. This is basically the self-destructing feature but for images.
Many are not aware, but there are users who use messaging services like WhatsApp as a note-taking app. They create a single-member group to send notes to themselves. And truth be told, it works like a charm. However, on Signal, you don’t have to rely on workarounds as it natively offers a “Note to Self” feature which works pretty well.
11. Verify Contacts
We all know that Signal is an end-to-end encrypted messaging service, however, it offers an extra layer just to negate the possibility of anyone hijacking the conversation (technically called man-in-the-middle attack). If you deal with sensitive information on Signal then you should verify the contacts before sharing the information.
12. Relay Calls
This is one of the best Signal tricks and it’s again for those users who want extremely tight security for private communication. It allows you to transmit all your calls through the Signal server so that your IP address is not revealed to your contacts. They will only be able to see Signal’s IP address protecting your identity.
By default, Signal does not create a backup (either local or cloud) for security reasons. However, if you want to create a local backup of your Signal messages and media then you have the option to do that. Open Signal’s settings page and tap on “Chats and media”. Here, enable “Chat backups” and you will be given a passphrase.
Signal provides a useful trick to keep the chatbox clutter-free and clean up the device storage. You can choose to delete old messages once the conversation length limit is exceeded. For instance, if a chat exceeds 500 messages then the older messages will be auto-deleted.
Incognito Keyboard is among the best Signal tips and you should definitely make use of it. If you are worried that the keyboard is learning and personalizing its service from your typing behavior then you can ask Signal to enforce Incognito Keyboard. I tested this feature while using Gboard on Signal and it indeed worked.
Open the Settings page and navigate to “Privacy”. Here, enable “Incognito keyboard” and now onwards, none of your typing and clipboard data will be recorded by the keyboard while using Signal.
Dark Mode is the rage right now, from WhatsApp to Chrome, everything has embraced the dark side. So how can Signal remain behind? Well, Signal has a built-in dark mode and you can enable it easily from the Settings page. Move to the “Appearance” menu and tap on “Theme”. Choose “Dark” and you will be all set.
No matter where you are or which device you are using, Signal is available everywhere. It has dedicated apps for Android, iOS, iPadOS, Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can, in fact, use it on Chrome OS as well using the Linux container. And the best part is that you will have access to all the Signal features across platforms.
However, keep in mind, the popular Chrome extension for Signal has been disbanded because the extension was unable to catch up with the latest development of Signal. Nevertheless, if I have to give you one tip for using Signal, I would say go ahead and download Signal on both your computer and smartphone for the best possible experience. Signal running on Chrome OS using Linux
Sure, the ‘blur-face’ feature is new and quite helpful, but Signal has had a pretty capable photo editor for quite some time. You can add text, highlight parts of the image in various colors, crop the image, add stickers, and more. There is even an option to save the image in your gallery after you are done editing the image.
Make Use of The Best Signal Tips and Tricks
So those are the 18 best Signal tips and tricks that we found on the app and I think, they are going to make your onboarding experience much better. As Signal is meant for extremely private communication, most of the features are based on strengthening security and privacy and we have included most of them.
