Signal is testing a way to sign up for its encrypted messaging app without handing over a phone number, a change the nonprofit says is meant to make the service more accessible to privacy-conscious users while still deterring spam. The feature, called numberless registration, appeared this month in a beta version of the app's Android client.
Instead of verifying a phone number, users who choose the new option pay a one-time $3 fee and receive an account ID and password to log in and recover their account. Signal's lead Android developer, Greyson Parrelli, said the app relies on the same zero-knowledge proofs Signal already uses for its donation system to ensure a payment can never be linked back to the account it funds. "The payment is never tied to the Signal account, and there is no link between your payment and the account you create," Parrelli said.
A trade-off between privacy and recovery
The fee exists specifically to limit abuse. Parrelli said the charge is meant "to prevent scammers from creating multiple accounts and flooding the network," a problem free signups would otherwise invite. The initial version of the feature routes payment through Google Play billing, meaning it currently requires Google Play services to work; Signal has said it plans to add other payment methods but has not given a timeline, according to Privacy Guides.
The new accounts carry a real trade-off: because no phone number is tied to the account, losing the account ID or password means permanent lockout with no recovery path, so Signal is urging anyone who registers this way to store the credentials in a password manager. The beta also adds two-factor authentication support specifically for numberless accounts, and users can still create a discoverable username to let others find them, or stay unlisted and rely on initiating conversations themselves.
The change addresses a long-standing complaint from privacy advocates, who have argued that requiring a phone number for every account undercuts the anonymity Signal's encryption is otherwise meant to provide. The numberless option is currently limited to a beta release of Signal's Android app, distributed through the Google Play Store and GitHub; the company has not said when, or whether, the feature will reach iOS or Signal's stable release channel.
