Signal Back Up: Users May See Some Errors, Company Says Will Be Fixed in Next Update

• Signal said security of chats unaffected

• Signal users might see errors in some chats as a side effect

• Signal saw a rise in downloads following WhatsApp’s privacy policy update

Signal said it had restored its services a day after the application faced technical difficulties as it dealt with a flood of new users after rival messaging app WhatsApp announced a controversial change in privacy terms.

Signal has seen a rise in downloads following a change in WhatsApp’s privacy terms, that required WhatsApp users to share their data with both Facebook and Instagram.

Signal users might see errors in some chats as a side effect to the outage, but will be resolved in the next update of the app, the company said in a tweet.

As an unfortunate side effect of this outage, users might see errors in some of their chats. This does *not* affect your chat's security, but you may have missed a message from that contact. The next Signal app updates will fix this automatically. Here's what you can do now…

— Signal (@signalapp) January 17, 2021

The error does not affect the security of the chat, the company added.

The non-profit Signal Foundation based in Silicon Valley, which currently oversees the app, was launched in February 2018 with Brian Acton, who co-founded WhatsApp before selling it to Facebook, providing initial funding of $50 million (roughly Rs. 365 crores).

Signal faced a global outage that began on January 15. Although users could open the app and send messages, nothing was actually delivered.

Signal later sent Gadgets 360 a message with the following statement from its COO Aruna Harder: “We have been adding new servers and extra capacity at a record pace every single day this week, but today exceeded even our most optimistic projections. Millions upon millions of new users are sending a message that privacy matters, and we are working hard to restore service for them as quickly as possible.”