Signal to roll out chat wallpapers, animated stickers and other features

As users throng to Signal, the encrypted messaging app is all set to roll out a few WhatsApp-like features. The company on Tuesday announced that it will roll out features including Chat wallpapers, about field, animated stickers. It is also rolling out an auto-download feature and full-screen photos for iOS users. Signal has also increased the group calling limit from five to eight participants per call.

Signal announced on Twitter on Tuesday that will be rolling out a few features to make the experience better. “Here's a sneak peek at some new Signal features that will start rolling out in a few days: Chat wallpapers, About field for your Signal profil, Animated stickers, For iOS: Media auto-download settings and full-screen profile photos (to match Android),” the tweet read. The features have not been rolled out yet but they will available to users in the coming days.

Signal has also increased the group calling limit from five to eight.

Apart from the newly announced features, Signal has some of the features that are already available on WhatsApp. Signal to provides an option to users secure their chats using various lock features such as fingerprint ID, Touch ID or Face ID.

Just like WhatsApp’s disappearing messages feature, Signal also lets users send messages that vanish after a certain period of time. In Signal, the user can choose a time limit between 5 seconds to one week whereas in WhatsApp the messages remain for seven days. Signal users can add up to 150 participants in a group. These groups also come with admin controls. Apart from this, Signal too has a dark mode, end-to-end encryption, desktop support, audio messages, archive chats, broadcast media, forward messages and read receipts.

Days after WhatsApp announced a new privacy policy and terms of service, users have migrated to Signal, which appears to be more secure than the Facebook-owned messaging app. However, the sudden onslaught of users has slowed the system.

Signal tweeted from its official account saying, “Some new users are reporting that Signal is slow to display their Signal contacts. We're adding more capacity to keep up with all the new people searching for their friends on Signal. Hang tight!”

“Not to sound like a broken record (about broken records), but we're aware of the registration delays while creating a new account. Carriers are making adjustments on their side to keep delivering verification codes as quickly as possible. Even though we're still breaking records, verification codes are back in the groove. Delivery delays have been eliminated across multiple cellular providers, so things should be more ASAP when you join the app,” it said.