Signal becomes the # 1 app after reaching 1.3 million downloads on Monday

The private messaging app Signal maintained its position Monday through Tuesday as the # 1 free app on the App Store and Google Play.

The app garnered around 1.3 million global downloads from the App Store on Monday, according to app data and analytics website Apptopia.

“We estimate Signal has been installed 63.1 million times in its lifetime. Signal has broken its own daily download records since Saturday,” said Adam Blacker, vice president of Apptopia Insights at FOX Business.

Signal is an encrypted messaging app, which means the company cannot access messages or calls made by app users.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SIGNAL, THE GROWING SECURE MESSAGING APP

“These types of changes in messaging and social networking applications are not unusual,” Amir Ghodrati, director of market analysis at application analytics firm App Annie, said in a statement. “Due to the nature of social apps and the way the core functionality involves communicating with others, their growth can often change quite quickly, depending on current events.”

WHAT ARE THE MOST DESIRED ENCRYPTED TEXT APPLICATIONS?

He added that “users consistently spend more time in messaging apps than in social media apps; 67% more time on average from H1 2020. Messaging apps offering privacy features experienced the strongest growth in engagement in H1 2020. These apps recorded an average of 30% users more active than the alternatives. “

Signal application (credit: Signal) (Signal)

On January 4, Signal ranked # 750 in total U.S. downloads, according to App Annie. The number continued to climb until the app hit No.1 in total U.S. downloads on Sunday.

The app gained popularity after people like Edward Snowden tweeted about it in 2015, with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk recently telling his subscribers to use the service, while simultaneously taking a photo on Facebook.

PROTESTERS TURN TO SECRETIVE MAILING APPLICATION ‘SIGNAL’

The Telegram encrypted messaging app also reached number two among free apps on Google Play and the App Store on Tuesday.

Both apps were recently in the spotlight after some people using the Facebook-owned WhatsApp encrypted messaging app expressed concern about a privacy update slated for February and first announced in October.

The buttons of Telegram, WhatsApp, Facebook, Messages and other applications on the screen of an iPhone. (iStock)

The update says businesses communicating with WhatsApp users through the app, phone, or email “can see” what users “are saying and can use that information for marketing purposes, which may include advertising on Facebook “if users choose to share this information.

WhatsApp later clarified the update in a January post, saying Facebook will not have access to any of its users’ private messages or calls.

“We want to be clear that the policy update does not in any way affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family. Instead, this update includes messaging related changes. of a business on WhatsApp, which is optional, and provides additional transparency on how we collect and use data, ”the app said in a blog post.

WHAT IS ENCRYPTION?

WhatsApp ranked 27th and 21st in overall U.S. downloads on January 3 and January 7, respectively, until it reached 38th place on Sunday.

WhatsApp has stated that Facebook will not have access to its users’ private messages or calls, shared locations, contacts or groups. Users can also make their messages disappear if they wish.

Big tech companies have made a number of policy changes and updates since Wednesday’s Capitol Riots in an effort to quell violent or conspiratorial rhetoric on their platforms, causing downloads of non-social apps to increase. censored like Parler, Gab, Signal and Telegram.

LEARN MORE ABOUT FOX BUSINESS BY CLICKING HERE

Chris Ciaccia of Fox News contributed to this report.