Signal started its journey ten years ago while being two different apps. One is built for encrypted voice calling and another for encrypted text messaging. Then called Whisper Systems, they also worked with firewall protection and data encryption tool projects. At that time, “mobile data services were in their infancy, so the company integrated encrypted SMS as part of its secure messaging app. It would later remove encryption support for SMS, and today, it has announced that it will be getting rid of SMS completely from its Android app.”
Signal Stops SMS Support From Android App
The company’s main motive behind this move is to enhance its security and privacy standards. Although the messaging support is very convenient, its base technology is very old and it is compromising the platform’s security system. Moreover, this service functions through wireless carrier services, and with its current technology, it contains the threat of data breaches and makes it a drawback from the whole system. So, Signal finds it best to remove such a service which serves as a liability to its core working structure.
“In addition to security concerns, the company didn’t want its users to incur any unexpected messaging fees. Apparently, users had issues with high messaging fees because they thought they were sending Signal messages but were instead using SMS the whole time. While some parts of the world, like the United States, offer unlimited text messaging, other regions charge quite a bit just to send one single message. By removing SMS from the Android app, there is now a clear understanding of what the app can do, which should mitigate future misunderstandings,” mentioned by xda developers.
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“Its final reason for removing SMS support from its Android app was simply a matter of consumer experience. In order to have both messaging systems co-exist with each other in the app, Signal had to create an experience that could accommodate both while still delivering a clear message to users on what services were being used to send and receive messages. Unfortunately, no matter how good a design is, there is always room for misinterpretation. These kinds of misinterpretations could cause users to not understand which services were being used to send messages or, like in the previous example, could cause unwanted billings from wireless carriers”, said further
