Signal gets a major update; users can now change phone number without losing chats
India Today
Signal has received a big update. You can update your phone number and you won’t be required to create a new account and lose conversations.
Signal has received a big update. People will now be able to change their registered phone number without losing their old chats. This is one of the much-awaited features, which is already available on WhatsApp.
Signal has support for end-to-end encryption and all chats are linked to the number that you used to create an account. The conversations are not stored on a cloud-based service, so when a user changes their phone number for any reason, they lose all the chats that were linked to the previous number. This changes with the latest update that Signal has released. Now, you can update your phone number and you won’t be required to create a new account and lose conversations.
“If you’re keeping your existing phone, but getting a new number, the Change Number feature will let you keep your profile and all of your existing messages and groups on your device, while making you reachable at your new phone number,” the company said.
Signal will also notify all your contacts when you change your phone number. In a blog post, the platform has confirmed that the feature is being rolled out to both Android and iOS versions. This feature is visible in the latest version of Signal and is available for those devices that are running on at least Android v5.30.6 or iOS v5.27.1.
It should be noted that the feature will not work if a user is not able to send or receive messages on Signal with the existing registered phone number. This is also the case if a person misplaces or loses their primary device, or the phone gets formatted.
The process to change the phone number is pretty simple. One just needs to open the Signal app, visit their Profile > Settings > Account > Change phone number > Tap on Continue. You can then follow on-screen instructions to complete the registration process for your new phone number. The above-mentioned process is for iOS devices. But, the steps should be similar for Android too.
In case you are wondering, yes, WhatsApp lets you change your phone number without losing the chat history. When you decide to change it, the messaging app transfers your account information, including your profile photo, name, about, individual chats, group chats, and settings from your old phone number to your new phone number.
