Had Down Signal, Increase Its Platform Capacity

Signal app (Instagram @signal_app)

JAKARTA - An increase does not necessarily mean positive. And a bitter experience has just been felt by Signal, a chat application that is on the rise due to WhatsApp whose privacy security is doubtful.

As Android Police reports, Signal just had a day of downtime. The activity of exchanging messages to simply opening applications cannot be done due to companies that have not adapted to the increasing number of users from WhatsApp.

"Capacity building has overcome the surge in users," the company said in a tweet on Twitter yesterday, Sunday, January 17.

Signal is back! Like an underdog going through a training montage, we've learned a lot since yesterday - and we did it together. Thanks to the millions of new Signal users around the world for your patience. Your capacity for understanding inspired us while we expanded capacity. pic.twitter.com/cRNV8kVtdF

- Signal (@signalapp) January 17, 2021

The company also issued a warning if the ongoing blackout might still leave errors on some devices. An example is a message that failed to reach the recipient. The application updates that the company will carry out will resolve the problem automatically.

It's still uncertain how many users downloaded the Signal app over the past few weeks. However, according to an Apptopia report via the New York Times, approximately 1.3 million new accounts registered as of January 11.

Telegram has also benefited from netizens' anxiety about WhatsApp. The number of new users who downloaded this application even reached 25 million in three days.

Indeed, WhatsApp yesterday tried to clear up the spreading confusion. In fact, one of the platforms owned by Facebook Inc said that it would delay the implementation of the new Privacy Policy until May.

However, Signal's inability to accommodate the booming users suggests something else. User desire to change services is still great.

Improvements do sound nice for small-scale services. In December alone Signal was only used by 20 million monthly active users. While WhatsApp reached 2 billion in February 2020.

Then, the question is, will Signal be able to accommodate the entire exodus of users from WhatsApp?