Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Note-to-Self feature
Allows you to send messages to yourself and sync to desktop so you can use Signal as a kind of encrypted Pushbullet alternative.
Pro Provides security and privacy
Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
Pro Free and open source
Signal is free and open source software, enabling anyone to verify its security by auditing the code. It's the only private messenger that uses open source, peer-reviewed cryptographic protocols to keep your messages safe.
Pro Recommended by Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everyone who is concerned about his privacy.
Pro Supports sharing of various different media types
Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF.
Pro You can easily view all media exchanged
You can easily view all media shared in the chat without scrolling back to when it was shared.
Pro Message mirroring on Signal Desktop
Signal Desktop is a Chrome extension that allows you to mirror messages from your phone, including replying.
Cons
Con Centralized servers
User data is stored on centralized servers run by the company, making it a massively vulnerable single point of failure. If Signal goes down, it may be possible for communications to be disrupted.
Con Servers hosted in the US
A security risk due to National Security letters, which require giving up data to the US state, and making it illegal to disclose that.
Con Unreliable notifications
Sometimes messages won't be received if the Signal app has been closed for a long time or hasn't been opened after booting the device.
Con Vendor-Lockin
You cannot easily switch apps without loosing all Signal contacts. Thus, reacting to unwanted changes in the app may be very difficult, because you might have to persuade all your friends (see WhatsApp as of 2019)
Con Uses message mirroring
You phone must be on and connected to the internet for Signal Desktop to work.
Con If SMS/MMS imported, other apps can't read SMS
For those using Join, Pushbullet, or similar apps to send and receive SMS/MMS from web or desktop, putting your SMS in Signal somehow breaks this functionally. The dev is aware but plans to remedy the situation have not been named a priority
Con Single device
You cannot send and receive messages from multiple devices, but there is a desktop extension.
Con Closed-source server software
Without the ability to audit server code, user security may be trivially compromised.
Recommendations
Comments
Out of Date Pros + Cons
Pro SMS/MMS support
Signal can be your default SMS/MMS text messenger. Encryption is not possible when sending SMS to your contacts, however.
