Signal Vs Whatsapp: Messaging App War Heats Up After Us Security Blunder

Signals Meredith Whittaker did not directly address the blunder, which Democratic lawmakers have said was a breach of US national security. But she described the app as the gold standard in private comms in a post on X, which outlined Signals security advantages over Metas WhatsApp messaging app.

We're open source, non-profit, and we develop and apply end-to-end encryption and privacy-preserving tech across our system to protect metadata and message contents, she said.

Signal has been growing in popularity in Europe, the US and elsewhere as an alternative to WhatsApp because it collects very little data about its users.

According to data from Sensor Tower, a market intelligence firm, US downloads of Signal in the first three months of 2025 were up 16 compared to the prior quarter, and 25 compared to the same period in 2024.