Keep in touch
German translation: 🇩🇪 Kontaktpflege | Chinese: 🇹🇼 留個聯絡方式吧
Content
Please send me your phone number
Nowadays, many people no longer have their friends’ phone numbers because they are only connected via social media. If these social media platforms shut down (or if you are locked out of your account for technical reasons), all those contacts can disappear in an instant.
I am therefore grateful to any friends, colleagues or acquaintances who send me their phone number so that we can stay in touch regardless of platform providers.
My preferred messenger: Signal
Download: https://signal.org – available for Android, iOS, Windows, Linux and more.
Why Signal? Because it’s open-source, ad-free, and run by a nonprofit (public domain).
If you haven’t installed Signal yet, just give it a try – many of your contacts may appear automatically when you first start it because they are already there.
Messenger comparison
This table compares the features of Signal with commercial messenger platforms.
| Criterion | Signal | Line | Telegram | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Encryption (1-to-1) | ✅ (open source) | ✅ (proprietary¹) | ✅ (proprietary¹) | ❌/✅ (optional per chat, proprietary¹) | ❌/✅ (optional per chat, proprietary¹) |
| Encryption (Group chats) | ✅ (open source) | ✅ (proprietary¹) | ✅ (proprietary¹) | ❌ | ❌ |
| Desktop ↔ Mobile Sync | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Ad-free | ✅ (non-profit foundation) | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Free of commercial extras (payments, shops …) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Typing indicator disableable | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Non-profit status | ✅ Non-profit foundation | ❌ Corporation | ❌ Corporation | ❌ Private company | ❌ Corporation |
¹ With proprietary encryption, you have to blindly trust that the provider does not build in backdoors or overlook errors – no one outside the company can check this. The word ‘proprietary’ comes ‘property’, meaning ownership. The encryption method is owned exclusively by the provider, not the general public. With open source, on the other hand, the code is open: independent experts examine it continuously, find vulnerabilities more quickly and can close them together.
Frequently asked questions & answers
‘But my friends aren’t on Signal…’
You’ll be surprised: install Signal, allow it to sync your address book once, and you’ll immediately see who’s already there – often more people than you think. And even if it’s just your closest friends at first, at least you’ll have the best option for your most important chats. See also the table: Signal does not use advertising or unnecessary additional features.
‘I don’t want another app…’
Understandable. That’s exactly why Signal is worth it: less tracking, no advertising push notifications and a calmer interface mean less distraction in the long run than with commercial messengers. The more of your conversations you move there, the less often you’ll need to open WhatsApp & Co.
‘We’re all being monitored anyway…’
Surveillance thrives on voluntary disclosure. It is the duty of every democratic citizen to oppose this erosion of civil liberties. Every step counts, big and small, for example:
- Using free software with secure encryption
- Opting out of data storage by Google and in your operating system
- Avoiding algorithmically controlled news feeds
- Deactivating unnecessary notifications
- Installing an ad blocker
- And so on…
Why open source is crucial
With proprietary apps (Line, WhatsApp, Telegram servers, Instagram), the source code remains closed; users must blindly trust that there are no backdoors and that data is not being analysed. Open source enables independent audits, faster bug fixes and, if necessary, the forking and continuation of the project by the community. This increases both the security and digital sovereignty of users.
Feel free to share this article with your friends. Privacy can win through quiet, consistent decisions in your immediate social circle…
This article is licensed under CC BY. 
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