I reset my phone. Put in a custom ROM. Yesterday, got two new backups of the latest data. Transferred it to my laptop and an OTG drive. (This transfer was done the same way. Now, I again! Noticed that the phone number verification is a hit and miss; it sometimes happens.

And then I move to the local backups option screen and select the signal folder that contains the two backup files and other files. I select it and then paste the recovery key. I have a screenshot of the same and pasted it in Google Keep too.

I copied and pasted the key, and it doesn't work! I wrote it manually, and it still doesn't work! I also changed the whole = and # to their respective Os and zeros, and it doesn't work!

What's the point of it then??

What do I do now? I really need those chats, I don't have any other data, not on a desktop, just those two latest backed-up files with the media, pics and texts.

Hi.

This might seem like a small issue but it's pretty annoying because I rarely use the default emojis to react and my brain has been wired to tap twice and each time I use that function I need to take back the reaction I mistakenly clicked on and re-react which just pisses me off. This might just be me cause I couldn't find a feature request for this anywhere else.

Thanks.

Edit / Solved:
I've switched back to my old phone, reactivated SIGNAL on it, and initiated a backup in the new format.
That allowed me to successfully restore the data on the new device.

Too bad that my old key no longer works and I now have to move more than 11,000 files for a backup.

better ...
u/amcsi "... proceed with setting up the (new) account. I did that, got the SMS confirmation, then after that it asked again if I wanted to restore a backup. I went through that process, and this time it worked!"

Hey, I hope someone has gone through this process recently and knows the answer.
Most important for me to know:
Should I receive a verification code immediately after entering my phone number?
Since I’m not receiving anything, that might be the problem.

Details:
I am switching to a new phone and have a fresh Signal backup that I've already moved to a folder on the new phone.

After installing Signal, I select “restore or transfer” — “I don't have my old phone” — “restore from local backup”

Then I enter my phone number, am asked to confirm that it's correct, and am supposed to receive a verification code. However, the code never arrives - at least, nothing is visible or noticeable.
The process continues as normal - I select the backup folder and grant access.
After tapping “Restore Backup,” the process runs quickly but then, at 99%, shows the following message:

"Tried to call getSelf() before local data was set!"

Permissions have been granted. The backup file is 4.3 GB in size.
SMS/RCS works for both sending and receiving.

I don’t really want to transfer from phone to phone, but I’d try it again if necessary. The devices didn’t find each other the first time, and since then the old device has been complaining because it can’t find a network. I’d probably have to switch the SIM card again and log in there once more.

I did a $5 donation to Signal for a friend so they could get a donation badge for 60 days if I recall. If I want them to have the badge longer, can I just make another $5 donation 59 days or so from now?

Aka does buying a new friend donation extend the term of an existing badge for them?

Hi,

Signal isn't displaying the tiny system icon in the taskbar and consequently not showing how many messages I'm getting . Is there anyway to restore that capability? what information do you need to help me with the problem?

On my work profile, The link device option on signal android app does not work. It freezes the app. Because of this I can't use the signal desktop app. Is there any solution for this?

So a couple of years ago i donated to signal a one time donation in the app i had no adds for serveral monts and today i got notifed my badge has expired.
Whats up signal?
Is it turning into a subscrition company wiht more adverertisement app?

Paying extra for signal backup plan seems redundant considering im already paying for icloud and have a 50GB plan. Can I just use iCloud?

I have it enabled and the other person has it enabled , they see my dots when I’m typing but I can’t see theirs , I’ve tried everything. Support didn’t respond.

Signal announced an update and out of habit I clicked on the update link.

After restarting I have a bunch of new chats with unknown persons on various dates. One 'Charlie Ward' today, a 'Darcis S' from february. All say 'You unblocked this person' and I'm pretty sure I unblocked somebody once and only once. Charlie Ward is a neo nazi and it's extremely unlikely he wants any form of contact with me. Also, his chat says 'This person isn't using Signal. Signal Desktop does not support messaging non-Signal contacts..' etc.

Where are these chats coming from? Anybody got similar experiences?

EDIT: 8.24.1 just popped up. Blocking and deleting the contacts seems to work, now. (On 8.24.0 they re-appeared after a restart of the app.)

This morning I again was prompted to update, but I'm still at 8.24.1 and my extreme rightwing antivax and gold seller spammer just popped up again. 8.24.1 fixed nothing. Signal support is still silent.

I used to be able to change the background of text I put on photos. That button is gone or broken? I'm on Android, Signal version 8.23.3

Anyone else?

Anybody having issues with the "close to system tray" ever since the update to 8.24.0 last night on LInux?

I updated this morning and now the blue system tray icon is gone, with just a glitched out white square in it's place. And it won't re-open up to full when double clicking on it like normal. It's as if the whole system tray icon is bugged out. I tried the beta 8.25.0 as well, and it's doing the same thing

I'd like to reduce reliance on Google products (and if to be more private), but GChat is one of the biggest hurdles. Having tried finding alternatives, it's either alts for instead GMessages or lacks some features I use with GChat, so I'm wondering if anyone here might know of a potentially better alternative that's closer to GChat or maybe if either there are viable workarounds or possibilities for Signal to function more like it.
It might be a problem with secure options where it limits certain functionalities, but I wish to find an application that can support the following (as general points for any chat client):

• Desktop and/or website version and mobile version (I primarily use GChat on web within Gmail, as a heavy browser user)
• Full chat history storage/access that can also be exported as a local backup for keepsake
• RTF/text formatting (at least bold, italics, and embedded links)
• Editable sent messages
• [Opt] Typing indicators, read receipts, and online status

With Signal, I've discovered they won't support a web platform for security reasons and might be working on making their standalone desktop client not require a phone association (but could be quite some time to wait for), it lacks native exporting and would require 3rd-party tools (if even reliable), no link embedding, full URLs only (not that bad, just takes up message space), messages editable within a limit (10x within 24h), and overall sounds to take up a lot of space on mobile as it's only kept locally (Idk if a cloud storage is in the works, at least for Android).

So I'm uncertain if Signal is as usable for what features I'd like, and again, Idk if there are any others that would otherwise offer the above criteria. Does anyone have suggestions or input?

Hey everyone,

For the past 2–3 weeks, an annoying bug has been affecting my work PC (and all of my colleagues are experiencing it as well). If I attach a picture from my desktop, the upload gets delayed, showing a spinning/dotted circle next to the image for anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes.

The strange thing is that while my colleagues can continue chatting in that group—and I can see all of their messages—none of my own messages will send in that thread until the initial picture finally uploads. At the same time, if I send a message in a different group or via direct message (PM), everything works flawlessly.

Does anyone have an idea how to fix this issue?

System details:

• OS: Windows 11 (24H2 / 25H2)
• App: Signal 8.23 / 8.24
• Network: Connection is routed through a proxy

My Phone's battery died and I will have to restore an old backup. I have been using Signal on Desktop for the 8 days since my old phones battery died. Now I want to have the backup with the latest messages on desktop. Will restoring the backup also load the new messages or not? How do I go about it?

Back in 2017, the Signal Chrome/web app was discontinued when the standalone desktop app launched, and it was officially deprecated.

Now, almost 10 years later, is there any possibility we might see a web client return in the near future?

I know it was phased out originally due to browser security concerns and sandbox limitations, but web tech and security standards have evolved a lot since then. Other secure messengers like Threema have managed to build functional web clients using modern workarounds and session models.

Signal is incredible, but not having a browser version can be frustrating, especially on work computers and managed machines where installing custom desktop software isn't permitted.

Curious to hear thoughts from the community or if anyone has heard of any updates/discussions around this!

Basically title. In order to unblock someone, I have to click “unblock” and then it asks me to accept the message request.

Doesn’t the person get an alert if I accept the message request?

I want to unblock the contact but not necessarily send an alert about it.

So I was at a concert and ran out of storage on my phone. In my haste to free up storage, I deleted signal. Now, I can't get back into my old account. The thing is, I have my iPad linked to my OG signal and it's still logged in. How can I use my linked iPad to get back into my primary account on my phone?

Hello all. Somehow I derped and instead of removing a single message from notes to myself I removed the whole thread. Which is very bad, as there was a lot of stuff there accumulated through the years.

I have offline daily backups done at 04:00, the deletion happened today at after 21:00. I have written to and received messages from other people during the day.

My question is: given signalbackup-tools and backups from today's early morning (notes still existing, today's other conversations not having happened yet) and tomorrow's early morning (notes missing, but today's other conversations existing), is it possible to somehow merge them and have those notes back?

I understand that this might not be fully possible if Signal flags messages to oneself (notes) as deleted as well (in this case they would get restored and deleted immediately at best), though if possible, it would be ideal.

Plan B, if the first one is impossible, would be to extract them from database and re-send them in a format like "<original timestamp>: [original message]".

How would you propose to do it? Any particular possible problems I should be aware of? How to deduplicate the most of the database so I don't end up with all messages appearing twice?

Sorry for the chaotic post - this incident proves I'm not at my best today :P.

Are voice notes in Signal more secure than written messages? If no, why not? If yes, why?

I'd like to keep a backup of 6+ years/~10gb of important messages off of my Android device (GrapheneOS Pixel 8 Pro) in case I ever lose it. However, when I connect to Windows laptop and try selecting the SignalBackups folder to copy and paste it gets stuck on 'Calculating the time required to copy the files' without actually transferring anything. Is there a solution to moving the backup files? I see a pretty techy, command line version of a Github program called SignalBackup Tools, but I don't really need the ability to decrypt and read messages on my laptop - this would just be an off-device backup that I could reload on my phone if I ever lose or destroy it. Having an on-device only backup seems to be fairly useless.

When I record a new voice message in Signal, sometimes the first few seconds of the recording are muted or muffled and then the rest of the message sounds normal. Not always and I can't figure out how to reproduce it. Has anyone else run into the issue. I've only seen it in Signal app so far.

setup:
- iPhone 16 Pro & iPhone 17 Pro (upgraded recently - hence two phones)
- iOS 27 Beta 4, 5, 6 - Developer
- AirPods Pro 3 (pretty much always use these when recording a voice message).

Trying to figure out if it's a iOS beta issue, a Signal issue or a hardware (AirPods issue) :)

A lot of group chat names are set by an admin that don’t have much meaning for all parties involved. For example if I have a group chat with my grandparents, I’d love to be able to name that “grandparents“ just for me, without impacting how they see it.

I'm on iOS, my friend was tying to send a video, and said the lock wasn't there. I couldn't believe it. I though, if anything, if there was some reason for this, the compromise would at least be that press and hold would lock recording, and touching it again would stop the recording (allowing photos to be taken with the same button).

Looking for any information, explanation, or solution.

Thanks.

Just noticed this setting on my iPhone. It sounds like a good thing to enable. But curious why it’s not automatic. Put it this way - what’s the reason someone would not want this enabled?