It's an open-source development provided free of charge by the nonprofit Signal Foundation and has been famously used for years by high-profile privacy icons like Edward Snowden. Signal is a typical one-tap install app that can be found in your normal marketplaces like Google Play and Apple's App Store and works just like the usual text-messaging app.

Free, no ads, funded by nonprofit Signal Foundation.

Does not collect data, only your phone number.

They all also provide encryption for texting, voice and video calls. All are mobile apps available in the Google Play store and App Store that support cross-platform messaging, have group chat features, offer multifactor authentication and can be used to share files and multimedia. Among the top players currently dominating download numbers, there are some commonalities. The jolt also reignited security and privacy scrutiny over messaging apps more widely. Read more: Everything to know about Signal It was the perfect storm - the number of new users flocking to Signal and Telegram surged by tens of millions. Around the same time, right-wing social network Parler went dark following the Capitol attacks, while political boycotters fled Facebook and Twitter. Twitter's then-CEO Jack Dorsey retweeted Musk's call. In a tweet heard 'round the world last January, tech mogul Elon Musk continued his feud with Facebook by advocating people drop its WhatsApp messenger and use Signal instead. And if privacy's what you're after, nothing beats Signal.

This isn't about which one has cuter features, more bells and whistles or is the most convenient to use: It's purely about privacy. If your choice of encrypted messaging app is a toss-up between Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp, do not waste your time with anything but Signal.

Signal messengers