In 2025, Signal experienced significant growth and launched a large number of new features. We take a brief look back at the biggest developments for Signal in 2025.
Signal’s strong growth, WhatsApp’s charm offensive
The year 2025 began for Signal with a huge influx of new users. The app was downloaded massively and reached the number one position in app stores, including in Finland, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, Signal remained at the top for weeks on end, making the country one of the top five in terms of active Signal users.
Signal’s strong growth did not go unnoticed by WhatsApp either. WhatsApp even felt compelled to call the media together for an exceptional charm offensive.
Although their own privacy policy states that WhatsApp collects and can access a lot of user data, WhatsApp CEO Will Cathcart tried to dismiss privacy concerns as “rumors” and wanted to convince the Dutch that there is no difference between WhatsApp and Signal.
Signal president Meredith Whittaker quickly corrected these false claims and warned people not to fall for WhatsApp’s marketing fluff.
The Dutch were not convinced by WhatsApp. A national switch day was even organized, and hundreds of thousands of new users joined.
Signal surpassed two million users in the Netherlands, and more and more people discovered that the app is a good alternative, for example if you don’t want Meta AI between your private conversations or don’t want to wait for ads in WhatsApp.
Recent research showed that the Dutch are increasingly ignoring WhatsApp. Telecompaper attributed WhatsApp’s decline this year to the growth that Signal has experienced. People switching to Signal often still remain on WhatsApp for contacts and groups that are not (yet) on Signal. This is also one of the tips we give for switching from WhatsApp to Signal.
Signalgate and impact
In the United States, Signal saw explosive growth after the so-called “Signalgate”, where a security official accidentally added a journalist to a Signal group.
Since this had nothing to do with Signal’s own security, it generated a lot of positive publicity for Signal’s strong privacy and security. The fact that high-ranking U.S. government and security officials use Signal (and not WhatsApp or another app) for confidential conversations was perhaps the best advertisement for Signal ever.
Thanks to Signalgate, Signal even earned a spot in TIME100 Most Influential Companies of 2025.
New features and design
Of course, Signal’s developers have also been busy this year. The apps for Android, iOS, and Desktop have been significantly improved.
The biggest update was the introduction of Signal Secure Backups. These backups are hosted by Signal itself and make it possible to safely and privately back up your messages and media. There is a free version that lets you back up all your messages, including the last 45 days of media, and a paid version if you want to back up all your media (up to 100 GB).
Another highly requested feature introduced this year is Polls. With polls, you can ask a question and provide multiple answer options for group members to vote on. Whether it’s planning an appointment, choosing a favorite pizza, or making important group decisions, polls in Signal now make this much easier.
For iPhone and iPad, Signal developed a completely new Liquid Glass design. Apple’s Liquid Glass is a modern, semi-transparent style and is available for iOS 26 and iPadOS 26.
Signal Desktop
Signal Desktop received, among other things, chat folders and notification profiles, allowing you to better personalize the desktop app. With chat folders, you can more easily find your chats by organizing them into folders, and with notification profiles, you can decide how, when, and from whom you receive notifications.
Since this year, you can also send GIFs via Signal Desktop, and the application has a new convenient menu via a right-click on chats.
Signal also made it possible to transfer your chat history and the last 45 days of your media when connecting a new device, such as your PC, laptop, or iPad. This allows you to continue chatting seamlessly without losing previous conversations.
Security and privacy
Signal is known for its strong privacy and security. Here too, Signal has implemented various improvements. For example, Signal introduced the Sparse Post-Quantum Ratchet (SPQR), which protects your messages against the threat of future quantum computers.
For Signal Desktop, Signal introduced “Screen Security”, which prevents screenshots of your Signal chats from being taken. The measure is mainly intended as protection against Microsoft Recall, an AI feature in Windows that continuously takes screenshots of your screen to create a searchable archive of your activities.
And much more…
The above new features are just a small selection of all the improvements Signal has implemented this year. If you don’t have Signal yet or haven’t used Signal for a while, download Signal from your app store to try the latest features.
If you want to contribute to Signal’s mission to make secure communication via open-source privacy technology possible worldwide and take a stand against big tech, you can donate to Signal from the app via Signal Settings > Donate to Signal or via Signal’s website. A one-time donation starts at just 3 euros or dollars, with no further obligations.
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