Tag: messaging

You have Signal installed, set up and ready to go. Then comes the thought that stops most people: nobody I know is on it. That worry is fair, and it is also smaller than it looks. Signal is a free …

Somebody has probably told you to "just get on Signal" by now. You nodded, and then never got around to it. Fair enough, because a new messaging app sounds like work. It isn't. Signal is free, the setup takes about …

By now you have a Business lane for work and an everyday lane for the noise. Both of those are about keeping people at a comfortable arm's length. This one is the opposite. Signal is where the actual humans in …

You've made the move to Signal. The app is installed, your number is verified, and a few chats have started. Now spend five minutes turning on the settings that actually protect you. Then forget about them. Which settings matter most? …

You've switched apps. The new one is very quiet, and every conversation you actually care about is still happening on the old one. The truth nobody tells you about switching apps is that the app is the easy part. Your …

You've seen the problem with how much a chat app can know about you. Here's the fix, and it's easier than you'd think. How long does this actually take? About five minutes, and most of that is waiting for one …

Same court order, sent to two apps. The answers couldn't be more different. One comes back as a thick file, and the other as two dates. What can most apps be made to hand over? Quite a lot more than …

You hit delete on a message and felt a little better. That relief is mostly imaginary. The message left your screen, but it did not leave the world. What survives after I press delete? A backup still has a copy. …

"It's just who I messaged, not what I said." Almost everybody says this, and it sounds reasonable. Let me show you why it falls apart. What can four messages reveal? Picture two ordinary days on somebody's phone. Message one goes …

Somebody always says it in the group chat. Signal and WhatsApp use the same encryption. So they must be equally private. It is a fair thing to assume. The answer is not in the messages at all. Are the messages …

You have used WhatsApp for years. Every day, several times a day, without thinking about it. And yet a few of its most useful features sit quietly in plain sight. Here are five worth learning today. Can I send a …