14 DAY TRIAL // Signal has announced that it’s removing support for sending SMS and MMS from its Android app, as the company is working on improving the privacy and security of its users.
The process won’t take place overnight, so Signal says that all users will have enough time to export messages or take appropriate action if SMS support is critical.
Needless to say, if you weren’t using Signal as the default SMS app, you aren’t affected by the change.
“We understand that this change will be frustrating for those of you who use Signal on Android for SMS messaging in addition to sending Signal messages. It rarely feels good to have to switch up the ways that you communicate with the people who matter to you. We did not make this choice lightly, but we do believe it is necessary to ensure that Signal meets the highest privacy standards for the future,” the company explains.
SMS messages expose too much data
As for the reasons why SMS support is going away from the Android app, Signal says the security of users is number one.
“The most important reason for us to remove SMS support from Android is that plaintext SMS messages are inherently insecure. They leak sensitive metadata and place your data in the hands of telecommunications companies. With privacy and security at the heart of what we do, letting a deeply insecure messaging protocol have a place in the Signal interface is inconsistent with our values and with what people expect when they open Signal,” the company says in a detailed blog post.
At this point, there’s no specific ETA as to when the feature will go away, but Signal will obviously display notifications to make sure all users are aware that SMS support is going away.