The title pretty much says it all. According to the report:
the service will encrypt all messages, phone calls, photos, and videos moving among [the devices].
Moxie Marlinspike is involved, so they have a chance of getting it right, and no one, even WhatsApp, will be able to know what you”re saying, texting, viewing, &c. (Unless, of course, your widget is running malware, or the opposition can get their mitts on it.)-: They claim this is available on nearly a billion devices—this is a really big deal.
takyon: Alternate links with no Wired paywall: TechCrunch, Washington Post, CNET, Reuters.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Wednesday April 06 2016, @04:35AM
Signal is pretty cool in that you can replace your normal SMS app with it. You can use it to communicate, unenecrypted of course, with non-users, and encrypted between users.
One of the main issues with something like whatsapp, is that BOTH parties HAVE to install it, meaning that many people will be annoyed by having to run two different apps and remember who to use the encrypted app with. When people can use one app for both types of contacts, it lowers the barrier to entry for that individual (at the expense of making it easier to mistake who is who) and thereby makes it more likely for the app to spread over time.