Following the changes made to the service policies of WhatsApp, users began looking at more private options. In recent days, applications such as Telegram and Signal began to have an increase at the user level. Especially Signal, which has been impacted by this accelerated growth, even connection failures were reported due to the avalanche of users circulating.
Signal is a messaging application similar to WhatsApp, but that focuses entirely on the Privacy. If you are one of those people who migrated to Signal, you should know these tips to make the most of the platform’s capacity.
1. Screen lock
In Signal you can enable the screen lock to restrict unauthorized access to your chats. It supports biometric authentication for Android and iOS. You just have to touch your profile picture in the upper left corner and click Privacy, then you just have to press Screen lock.
2. Set PIN
When you first download Signal, the application will ask you to add a PIN, but it is not to block conversations, it is an extra layer of security for reinstallation, restoration of backups and identity verification.
You can change the PIN at any time, you just have to go to your profile picture, open Privacy and then press Registry lock.
3. Disable the first connection notification
If it bothers you that a notification appears every time someone joins Signal, you can disable it in simple steps. Just tap your profile picture, tap Notifications, scroll to the section Events and disable the option Someone starts using Signal.
4. Personalized notifications
Normally, Signal shows you a notification with the message and the name of the person speaking to you, but if you only want to receive a notification only with the name of the sender without any previous message, you can modify it.
Just tap on your profile picture in the top left and open Notifications, Then in See. There you will have three options, in this case choose Sender only.
5. Pin conversation on top
Here you can also pin those important conversations to the top of your chats. You can pin up to four chats or groups. In Android just hold down a chat and tap the pin icon in the top menu, in iOS swipe right a chat and press the icon Pin up.
A curious fact is that in iOS, if you keep pressed a chat, you will get a preview image of the conversation so you don’t have to open it.
6. Blur faces
Signal has recently added this feature. Now, with just one tap, you can automatically blur faces before sharing an image by the app.
To use this trick you just have to select an image and touch the icon Blur at the top, enable the option Blur faces, If the algorithm does not detect the face well, you can do it manually.
7. Disappearing messages
Since Signal is a messaging service that encourages security, it has many features to have a very private conversation. With the application you can create messages that disappear. Specifically, you can set a timer to determine when messages will start to disappear.
In Android you must touch the three dots that appear in the chat and in iOS you only have to click on the profile photo of the other person within the chat. Then enable the option Disappearance of messages and set the time.
8. Block screenshots
Without a doubt, this feature makes Signal a more private application. Like Snapchat, you can restrict screenshots being taken to your chats or anywhere within the app. You won’t even be able to take a screenshot of the menu Recent.
To activate it, open the settings by tapping your profile picture and select Privacy, then enable the option Screen protection.
9. Send an image to see it only once
With this option you can send images, but the other person will only be able to see it once, after that, the image will disappear in both chats.
To use this trick, select the image you want to send and at the bottom left press the icon with the sign of a Infinity to change it to 1x.
10. Chat as a notepad
Forget about having to create a group of two, then delete to have a chat just for you. With Signal you can have a chat to use it as a personal notepad natively.
In android you must touch the pencil icon in the lower right corner and select Personal notes. In iOS you must touch the pencil icon in the upper right corner and write Personal notes in the search engine.
11. Verify contacts
This feature is one more step to give more privacy to your chats. This option is to deny the possibility of someone taking over the conversation (known as a man-in-the-middle attack), this will allow you to handle sensitive information in Signal.
You must first open the chat to whom you want to transmit the message, then touch the profile photo to open the user menu. Then open See safety figures.
Here touch the QR code and scan the code of the other device, if they match, they can share all kinds of information without problems.
12. Private calls
This feature allows you to make a call using Signal’s servers, this way you IP number will not be visible.
Although the quality of the call may be reduced somewhat due to the network tunnel, it is an option for those who want to secure an important call. To activate it, go to the application settings and press Privacy, in section Calls, enable option Always redirect calls.
13. Local backup
For security, Signal does not automatically create a backup, either locally or in the cloud. However, if you want to obtain it, you can activate the option.
To activate it, you must go to the Signal settings and touch Chats and a half, here you must enable the Chat backups and you will be given a password, which you should keep well, as it will be necessary to restore the backup. Then you just confirm by pressing the option Enable backups.
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