When comparing Signal vs FairEmail, the Slant community recommends Signal for most people. In the question“What are the best Android apps?” Signal is ranked 3rd while FairEmail is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose Signal is:
Signal uses an advanced end to end encryption protocol that provides privacy for every message every time.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
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 Supports encrypted group chats
Pro Has a desktop app
Signal Desktop can be used on multiple devices and has most features of the Android version, although it still requires you to register with your phone.
Pro Supports sharing of various different media types
Signal supports: emoji, pictures, videos, audio, contacts, any location and GIF.
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 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 Annonymous Sender (Encrypted)
The sender credentials can be encrypted with the rest of the message, leaving only the recipient address readable by the Signal server. Even if Signal wanted they couldn't see who is talking with who by this mean.
Pro Works everywhere in every country
Unlike most messenger apps, Signal works reliably in all countries by securely circumventing internet censorship.
Pro Recommended by Edward Snowden
Edward Snowden uses this messenger and recommends it to everyone who is concerned about his privacy.
Pro Open source
Pro Multiple account support
Multiple identities per account, notifications per account or contact.
Pro Actively maintained
It is actively maintained. The used libraries are up to date and bugs are fixed quickly.
Pro Privacy-Focused
There are no trackers within the app and trackers sent with mails are disabled by default. This app lets you read and compose emails with your privacy in your very own hands.
Pro Fast and customizable
Privacy features are excellent.
Pro Lightweight
~ 20 MB.
Pro Identities support
Pro Two way synchronization
Pro Flat conversation threading
Pro Encryption support
Supports both OpenPGP and S/MIME encryption for total privacy.
Pro Support for safety and low-bandwidth
Allows to configure maximum size of email downloaded immediately.
Pro Can show plain text of html mails
Pro Show links before opening
Some HTML mails may show different links and link texts, this app however will show you the real link before opening, protecting against phishing and scams
Pro Recognize spoofing internationalized domain names
Some domain names may use non-ASCII characters looking similar to the latin alphabet (e.g. some cyrillic characters). This app will show you the punycode representation of the domain, if that is the case and thus protect you against phishing and scams.
Pro Reformat the HTML mail for increased privacy
Some HTML mails may include ressources that can track you. This app doesn't load them by default, but reformats the text, increasing both privacy and readability.
Pro Autoconfiguration with open standards
There are open standards for any email provider to show how an email client should connect to the server. This app supports both RFC 6186 as well as Thunderbird Autoconfiguration standards.
Pro OAuth support for most common mail providers
Supports authenticating with the mail server using OAuth, thus increasing security.
Pro Low RAM usage at the right setings
Cons
Con Needs access to your phone number and contacts to work
Con Single device
Signal can only be registered to one mobile device at a time. But you can link Signal to Signal Desktop.
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 No Microsoft exchange server support
Con UI might be a bit confusing for some
