With the influx of thousands of new users, Signal on Friday stopped working properly. Thousands of users are reported errors to site status tracker DownDetector. However, users can open the app and send messages, but nothing is actually being delivered right now. According to the sources, the issue started around 8.30 pm in the evening on Friday and appears to be a global outage.
If you open Signal right now, you will see a new banner which explains that the app is facing some technical difficulties. However, it does say that the team is working to restore service as quickly as possible.
Signal saw a meteoric rise as a direct consequence of privacy debate around its larger rival WhatsApp, but its co-founder Brian Acton said the messaging platform is hoping to capitalise on the opportunities with its “simple and straightforward” terms of service and privacy policy
Signal is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore service as quickly as possible.
— Signal (@signalapp) January 15, 2021
Signal, a non-profit, has seen millions of downloads globally after WhatsApp updated its privacy policy that included a controversial change of linking data of WhatsApp users to Facebook’s other products and services
Speaking to PTI, Acton said I think the Indian market has completely exceeded all expectations? and the growth in the past few days has driven the company to add capacity to meet the burgeoning demand
And the growth is just amazing, it’s been so fast in the last 72 hours that not too many of us have gotten very much sleep. That’s a good problem, Acton said