Signal app down globally due to hosting outage, company says working on a fix

Signal, the messaging app that goes big on privacy is currently down for many users because of what the company says is a hosting outage. Signal users have been experiencing issues with the platform since Sunday night with a spike on Monday morning. Down Detector reported a spike in outage reports,which were over 1200 on September 27th around 9 AM. The outage tracker showed that 43 per cent users had issues accessing the app, 36 per cent faced issues with sending messages and 20 per cent had server connection issues.

Signal on Twitter noted that the app is currently down due to a hosting outage affecting parts of its service. “Hold tight, folks! Signal is currently down, due to a hosting outage affecting parts of our service. We’re working on bringing it back up,” the company tweet read. “Signal is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore the service as quickly as possible," an in-app message reads.

Down Detector shows outages for Signal in the US. However, users in India have also taken to Twitter to complain about the same.Down Detector noted that user reports indicated that Signal has been having problems since 11:05 PM on Sunday. Signal is an encrypted communications application for Android and iOS.

Signal allows users to share encrypted files, voice notes, images and videos, and make one-to-one voice and video calls. It became popular after WhatsApp rolled out its new privacy rules for users earlier this year that give access to their business chats to advertisers. The new terms tweaked how businesses can use Facebook-owned services to store and manage WhatsApp chats.

Signal uses the open-source Signal Protocol to implement end-to-end encryption. Signal by default encrypts all the local files with a 4-digit passphrase. Signal encrypts metadata as well. Signal's "Sealed Sender" feature disables the ability to figure out who is sending and receiving messages. These “sealed” messages hide your IP address from non-contacts with whom you have not shared your profile. Signal app does not store metadata, logs, or information on its users. It also does not store a record of your contacts, conversations, locations, profile name, avatar, group memberships, or group titles. The only personal data Signal stores is your phone number and do not link it to your identity.