On Friday, the messaging platform, Signal, said that it experienced technical complications as it worked on housing millions of new users. Some Signal users reported messages failing to send on both platforms, mobile and desktop, for many hours. The messaging company saw a big surge in interest since its opponent WhatsApp revealed a new privacy policy last week.
On Twitter, ‘Signal’ stated that it had added additional servers at a record pace and making efforts to restore service. Signal tweets that millions of new users of the app are sending a message that privacy matters.
We have been adding new servers and extra capacity at a record pace every single day this week nonstop, but today exceeded even our most optimistic projections. Millions upon millions of new users are sending a message that privacy matters. We appreciate your patience.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 15, 2021
Both Telegram and Signal, a free-to-use encrypted messaging app, benefited from dissatisfaction blow up by the updated terms and conditions of WhatsApp. WhatsApp declared that its users must allow it to share their personal data with Facebook, its parent company if they wished to continue using it. The new policy doesn’t apply to users in the United Kingdom and Europe. However, the notification sent to all two billion users of WhatsApp.
WhatsApp remarks on the New Policy
WhatsApp expressed that its practice of sharing information with Facebook wasn’t new, and they didn’t expand it. It states that the notification from the company caused confusion, which initially gave users until 8th February to accept its updated terms and conditions or stop using the service.
However, WhatsApp now changed the cut-off date to 15th May after the worldwide gossips about its policy. It said that it would use the expanded time to clear up misinformation. Earlier in a FAQ blog post, WhatsApp says that they can not see private messages or hear calls of users, and neither can Facebook.
According to the statistics from analytics firm Sensor Tower, Signal now downloaded around 246000 times globally in the week before WhatsApp announced the change on 4th January and eighty-eight million times the week after. Whereas, in India, users download Signal from twelve thousand to 2.7 million. Likewise, the United Kingdom jumped from seventy-four thousand to 191,000 and in the United States from sixty-three thousand to 1.1 million.
Source: Web
On the other side, Telegram said that it had beat five hundred million active users internationally on Wednesday. Downloads surpassed from 6.5 million in the week starting 28th December, to eleven million during the following week. During the same duration, worldwide downloads of WhatsApp decreased from 11.3 million to 9.2 million.
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What does WhatsApp share with its parent company Facebook?
According to WhatsApp, the information it shares from users outside the United Kingdom and the European Union doesn’t include messages, call logs, or groups.
However, it does include:
- Phone number along with information provided on registration procedure (such as name)
- Information about the user’s device. Including model, make, and mobile company
- Internet protocol addresses, which specify the location of the internet connections of a user
- Any payments as well as financial transactions made over WhatsApp
