The downfall of WhatsApp for more than hours made it difficult for its two billion users worldwide to communicate. Users who can't wait for the WhatsApp service to recover immediately move to another platform, one of which is Signal.
Signal said it gained millions of new users when its WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Messenger services crashed for more than six hours. Signal even had time to be overwhelmed by the surge of new users.
"Millions of new people joined Signal today and our messaging and calling system is up and running but some people can't see all their contacts showing up on Signal," Signal said in a tweet. /2021).
"We are working hard to fix it," he continued.
Twitter, which became a refuge for confused WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook users, was also used to promote Signal. Two important technology figures, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and whistleblower Edward Snowden, intervened to invite their followers to move to Signal.
Signal is WhatsUp
https://t.co/zpRrxf9qKP https://t.co/T23l7Ih6NQ
— jack⚡️ (@jack) October 4, 2021
Facebook-owned Whatsapp being down is a reminder that you and your friends should probably be using a more private, non-profit alternative like @Signalapp anyway (or another open-source app of your choice).
It's just as free, and takes like 30 seconds to switch.#facebookdown
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) October 4, 2021
This is not the first time Signal has been chosen as an alternative messaging app by WhatsApp users. When WhatsApp introduced its controversial privacy policy, users who did not want to accept this policy flocked to Signal because it was considered safer and prioritized privacy.
But that doesn't mean the Signal service hasn't been interrupted. On September 27, Signal service was down for about three hours due to hosting problems.
Apart from Signal, another platform that has benefited from the downfall of WhatsApp is Telegram. Telegram didn't reveal how many new users registered when WhatsApp was down, but they did tease WhatsApp through a meme on Twitter.
pic.twitter.com/h8CcSzf1Fs
— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) October 4, 2021
