Signal has grown significantly and now has more users than Telegram in the Netherlands. This is according to the Dutch 2026 National Social Media Survey by Newcom.
According to the survey, Signal now has 2.3 million users in the Netherlands, while Telegram has 2.1 million. Despite all the privacy concerns surrounding WhatsApp, Meta’s app remains the largest in the Netherlands, with 13.8 million users.
Dutch users who use Signal often continue to use WhatsApp for contacts and groups that are (still) not on Signal. This is also one of the tips we give for switching from WhatsApp to Signal: simply use both apps alongside each other for a while.
That using WhatsApp is a personal choice is demonstrated by a growing group of Signal users: seven percent of Signal users no longer use WhatsApp at all.
Daily active Signal users triple
The Dutch National Social Media Survey also looked at daily active users. This shows that Signal has grown tremendously in popularity over the past year.
The number of Dutch people using Signal daily has tripled, from 300,000 to 900,000 users. This shows that Signal is not only being installed, but actively used.
Signal also saw growth in other countries last year, including Finland, Belgium, Italy, Germany and France.
Signal is much safer than WhatsApp and Telegram
The fact that more and more people are discovering and using Signal is good news for everyone who values privacy and secure communication, and who no longer wants to be tracked by commercial tech companies.
An app like WhatsApp can see and collect a lot of your information and potentially share it with third parties. This includes your profile picture, personal information, group names, who is (or was) in a group, descriptions of your communities and groups, and much more.
Furthermore, WhatsApp is not designed with privacy as a default. Various features in the app, such as your profile picture, profile information, ‘last seen’ and online status, are publicly visible by default. Anyone you chat with or are in a group with can also see your phone number.
Messages and calls on WhatsApp are still private and end-to-end encrypted, although this cannot be verified because WhatsApp is closed source.
The other messaging app mentioned above, Telegram, is not considered a private alternative, as chats are not end-to-end encrypted by default. Only Secret Chats offer optional end-to-end encryption, while group chats have none. Telegram also falls short in other privacy and security areas, such as metadata protection and contact privacy.
Signal is built for your privacy and security
Everything on Signal is end-to-end encrypted. Because Signal does not focus on making a profit, the developers can fully concentrate on privacy and security.
Signal collects no data and cannot see what you share, nor can it provide it to third parties, including governments or law enforcement. All your messages, calls, profile information, groups, and contacts remain private. Your phone number is also not visible to others by default. And last but not least, Signal is open source, which means you don’t have to take their word for it—you can verify everything yourself.
Don’t have Signal yet? Download Signal for free via your app store.
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