WhatsApp Rival Signal Reports Growing Pains as New Users Surge (bloomberg.com) 10
Signal, an encrypted messaging app that competes with other services including Facebook's WhatsApp, said Thursday that verification codes used to create new accounts were delayed because of a flood of new users. From a report: "We are working with carriers to resolve this as quickly as possible," the non-profit foundation said in a tweet. "Hang in there." The surge came just hours after Elon Musk endorsed the service and amid reported changes to WhatsApp's terms of service.
Can you blame them? (Score:1)
Great news! (Score:5, Insightful)
The biggest thing keeping Whatsapp popular now is network effects, moving users onto alternatives is how you kill that advantage.
Can we kill SMS verification codes instead please? (Score:3)
Signal is supposed to be secure but you need a working phone number to set it up. It should work without a phone number if that's what the user wants.
Re:Can we kill SMS verification codes instead plea (Score:5, Insightful)
Signal is very slowly working on becoming accessible without a phone number. The thing about Signal is that their entire raison d'être is to do things right and securely, and to do it right the first time. This means that major changes take time. If you want (any given feature) fast, you're looking in the wrong place.
Re: (Score:2)
Exactly. That kept me away from using Signal. :(
This is going to make signal less secure. (Score:3)
For the short term it's good, but once it hits a threshold it's going to suck.
As it grows, they're going to start needing to hire more people to manage the company. This means marketing and business types who will want the company to make lots of money and ipo. Then they'll have to sell ads or subscriptions.