Read more at source.
Read more at source.
The news of the SignalGate scandal has led to a doubling of Signal's usual rate of new downloads, according to the nonprofit organization that runs Signal. Jun Harada, Signal's head of growth and partnerships, described this as the largest US-growth moment by a massive margin. The rate of adoption has been twice that of a typical week for 2025, which was already twice that of a typical week the same time last year.
In Signal's history, the only comparable spike in adoption occurred when WhatsApp changed its privacy policy in 2021, leading to millions of users abandoning that communications app. However, that incident mostly brought non-Americans to Signal, unlike the current, US-focused SignalGate bump. Market intelligence firm Sensor Tower's data aligns with Signal's analysis, indicating a 105 percent increase in Signal downloads in the US compared to the prior week.
The SignalGate scandal has raised serious questions about the Trump administration's security practices. It appears the executive branch officials were planning the air strike using potentially vulnerable non-approved or personal devices rather than secure machines intended for classified conversations. Screenshots of the group chat published by The Atlantic indicate the officials were using Signal's disappearing messages feature to delete their communications, potentially violating US record retention laws.
The incident has also raised questions about Signal's own security. President Trump suggested that Signal might be 'defective', despite many cybersecurity and encryption experts recommending Signal as the best end-to-end encrypted messaging tool freely available to the public. Signal's Harada declined to respond to Trump's comment, pointing to Signal's previous statements that there is no evidence of any vulnerability in the app related to the SignalGate incident.
In Signals history, this is the largest US-growth moment by a massive margin, says Jun Harada, Signal's head of growth and partnerships. Its mind-blowing, even on our side.
