Signal will begin phasing out SMS and MMS support in its Android app to simplify the user experience and prioritize security and privacy.
“Now we have reached the point where SMS support no longer makes sense. To make Signal more convenient, we are starting to phase out support for SMS in the Android app,” the company said in a blog post.
Users will be given several months to export their SMS to another application. The change will only affect Android users who have set Signal as their default SMS app.
When Signal is used as a unified messaging app on Android, the contact list shows both messenger contacts and everyone else. This information can be intercepted through attacks, and telecom operators can gain access to message metadata, the team said. Also, having unencrypted SMS next to secure Signal messages in the same interface can easily lead to confusion among users. Because affordable or unlimited SMS rates only work primarily in the US and parts of Europe, users can incur large communication bills if they mistakenly send regular SMS instead of Signal messages.
Over the summer, the Signal team confirmed that a breach in the database of the number verification company Twilio resulted in a leak of user data. The attack affected 1.9 thousand people. Through hacked numbers, it was possible to re-register an account number on another device, send and receive messages.
bbabo.Net