Signal is for Your Stepdad's Secrets

Explain it like I'm 5 for messaging apps.

Because of the news story that broke yesterday in The Atlantic, the conversation about national security, group texts, and the messaging app Signal - where the aforementioned two issues intersected - is everywhere. (If you haven’t read the news story yet, I encourage you to read that first).

But what exactly is Signal? If you aren’t in journalism or cybersecurity, you might not know.

Basically, Signal is a communication app anyone can download that has a big focus on privacy and security.

From their website:

….Signal is a simple, powerful, and secure messenger. State-of-the-art end-to-end encryption (powered by the open source Signal Protocol) keeps your conversations secure. We can't read your messages or listen to your calls, and no one else can either. Privacy isn’t an optional mode — it’s just the way that Signal works. Every message, every call, every time.

In my experience, the three messaging apps I encounter most often are regular old texting, WhatsApp, and Signal.

And if it is helpful to differentiate, I think of them like a Messaging Family Tree.

• Texting is the Tyke. Everyone can text, because it’s the default service that comes on iPhones and Androids. It’s the easiest way to message and the bar to entry is low. Texting, just plain old regular texting, is the baby of the messaging family. Texting is the Tyke of the Messaging Family, and they are uncomplicated.

• WhatsApp is the Wife. The wife of the Messaging Family Tree is social and fun. To me, what WhatsApp does best is lets people create large group chats. You can easily send links to WhatsApp groups for folks to join, so its popular to set up WhatsApp groups for events like conferences or groups like sports teams. WhatsApp is the Wife of the Messaging Family, and she is outgoing.

• Signal is the Stepdad. And this stepdad has secrets. Because of its focus on privacy and security, many journalists use Signal so sources can share sensitive info with them. To me, this is on the high end of ‘good reasons to use Signal.” On the low end, I think of Signal as being used by drug dealers or other people with illegal activities they are hiding. Even the DEA’s own materials call out the relationship between Signal and drug dealing: “Once contact is made, drug traffickers and potential buyers often move to an encrypted communications app like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram.” Sometimes, WhatsApp and Signal are often looped together as both being secure apps, but in my life, I see WhatsApp being used more commonly by “regular people”, and Signal being used for people who care a lot about privacy, for whatever reason, nefarious or not. Furthermore, because Signal and other apps like it are “without special archiving software, the messages frequently aren’t returned under public information requests.” That’s a quote from this 2025 story that details how a government official told colleagues they should be using Signal instead of staying with texting. Signal is the Stepdad of the Messaging Family, and he has Secrets.

So that’s my Messaging Family Tree for the day. Hope it helps!

And if you want a more formal description of Signal, BBC ran a piece on what Signal is - and what the government is suppose to be using instead - this morning.

-Molly Beck