Signal Just Gave WhatsApp Users More Reasons to Switch

Jan. 26, 2021

FollowingWhatsApp’s major policy debacle(which they eventried to justifyand thendelayed), several alternatives of the messaging app such asSignalandTelegramhave risen to power. As a result, developers are frequently updating their apps and adding new features to meet user demands. So now, Signal,one of WhatsApp’s competitors, received a new update on iOS that added some much-needed features to the app.

Signal v5.3 Features

As part of the recent update,Signalreceived a ton of customization features along with some under-the-hood changes. This update brings support for animated stickers, chat wallpapers, data saver for calls, and a few UI changes. All in all, this update is primarily targeted at those users who are still on WhatsApp as it brings a ton ofmissing featuresto the app.

Now, let’s get into some detail, shall we?

So, first up, support for chat wallpapers finally makes its way to Signal. As a result, if you are using the app on an iPhone,you will now be able to set wallpapers for individual chats or set a general wallpaperfor all your chats. This feature has been present in WhatsApp for a long time and hence it was much-needed for Signal to add it sooner than later in order to encourage users toswitch from the Facebook-owned app.

Moreover, with this new update, users will now be able to minimize their data usage while making a Signal call. We recently saw the developersinclude support for E2E encrypted video callson the app. This time, they haveadded low-data settings for callsto help users reduce their data usage when making Signal calls using 3G, 4G, or 5G network connections. This is also useful when you are using a weak Wi-Fi network to make calls on Signal.

Another nifty feature that came with the update is the integration of Signal chats right into the share-sheet of iOS. This also has been there for WhatsApp chats for quite a long time. So now, the developers added the option to keep Signal chats on the share sheet. This way, you will be able to share media from a third-party app directly with a particular Signal chat right from the iOS share sheet.

Apart from these, the developers note that they have improved the image compression tech to maintain image quality when sent on chats. Users will also be able to see an expanded chat list previews to better manage group threads. And while downloading media, users will now be able to pause and resume the downloads on-demand.

Now, these were the major features that came with Signal’s latest update. If you are an iOS user, then you can head to the App Store toupdate your app right now. However, the 5.3 update is yet to make its way to Android users. All of these features are live in the beta build already. So, if you are an Android user, you should get the stable update very soon.

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