Signal app to soon end this feature on your Android phone

One of the major reasons for such a decision is the ‘security risk’. The messaging app claimed that plain text SMS are inherently insecure and leak sensitive metadata which can get into the hands of telecom companies. The company rolled out the plain text service in times when data plans were expensive and inaccessible in many parts of the world.

Secondly, users were charged a heavy messaging fee by the telecom companies after they mistakenly assumed that the SMS they were sending was through the Signal app. The messaging app cited significant UX and design implications for inviting SMS texts live, in addition to Signal messages, in the interface.

“It’s important that people don’t mistake SMS messages sent or received via the Signal interface as secure and private when in fact they are not. And while we flag the difference between them in the app, we can only do so much on the design side to prevent such misunderstandings”, it added.

So, when will your SMS service stop, and what about your saved texts?

Users will have several months for the transition from SMS in Signal and export their text messages to another app. They can notify others that they may want to switch to Signal or another channel if they do not. According to the developers, the change will only affect users who use Signal as their default SMS app on Android.

Customers who do not use Signal as their default SMS app on Android will need to change the SMS app on their phones and must export their SMS messages from Signal to the new app.

Users must go to their Signal accounts’ Settings, select Chats, and then SMS/MMS. Once enabled, they must export messages and select a new default SMS app.

The Signal app is a free, secure, end-to-end messaging service with the tagline “hello to privacy.” It was created by former WhatsApp co-founder Brien Acton and does not allow chats to be backed up to Google Drive or iCloud.