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signalapp
Signal-iOS
Swift2014–2026
signalapp / Signal-iOS

Signal-iOS

A private messenger for iOS.

Security & PrivacyMobile & DesktopCommunication & Social
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
75Distinct people
92Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
12.3KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

A private messenger for iOS.

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year92 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2014-07-29 22:52:27 UTC to 2026-10-31 12:51:07 UTC.

0510152014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 0 submissions, 5 comments20142015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 7 mentions; 1 submissions, 6 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 14 mentions; 1 submissions, 13 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 7 mentions; 2 submissions, 5 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 0 submissions, 6 comments2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 8 mentions; 0 submissions, 8 comments20202021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 12 mentions; 0 submissions, 12 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 8 mentions; 2 submissions, 6 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 6 mentions; 0 submissions, 6 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 5 mentions; 2 submissions, 3 comments2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 9 mentions; 1 submissions, 8 comments2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments. Incomplete calendar period.2026*

* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC505
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC716
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC14113
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC725
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC606
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC808
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC12012
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC826
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC606
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC523
20252025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC918
2026 (partial)2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
Signal iOS Signal is a free and open source messaging app for simple private communication with friends. Also available on Android and Desktop. Questions? For troubleshooting and questions, please visit our support center or unofficial community forum. Contributing Bug Reports The best way to submit a bug report or support request is via the Support Center. Signal iOS doesn't collect any analytics or telemetry, and we rely on your feedback to help us troubleshoot and fix problems when something isn't working correctly. Contributing Code Instructions for how to configure your development environment and build Signal iOS can be found in BUILDING.md. We also recommend reading the contribution guidelines. Contributing Ideas Have something you want to say about Signal Foundation projects or want to be part of the conversation? Get involved in the community forum. Cryptography Notice This distribution includes cryptographic software. The country in which you currently reside may have restrictions on the import, possession, use, and/or re-export to another country, of encryption software. BEFORE using any encryption software, please check your country's laws, regulations and policies concerning the import, possession, or use, and re-export of encryption software, to see if this is permitted. See http://www.wassenaar.org/ for more information. The U.S. Government Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS), has classified this software as Export Commodity Control Number (ECCN) 5D002.C.1, which includes information security software using or performing cryptographic functions with asymmetric algorithms. The form and manner of this distribution makes it eligible for export under the License Exception ENC Technology Software Unrestricted (TSU) exception (see the BIS Export Administration Regulations, Section 740.13) for both object code and source code. License Copyright 2013-2026 Signal Messenger, LLC Licensed under the GNU AGPLv3: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html Apple and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

92 sources
nh2·Oct 31, 2026
Or this case we encountered, where on iOS Signal apparently corrupts its sqlite DB, leading to loss of all messages. https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/issues/5813 Interestingly here, the sqlite DB would be trivially fixable, and messages restorable, with the `sqlite3` CLI. But there's no way to get at that sqlite DB file. Even if you change Signal's code to add a feature to export the DB, it apparently cannot see your DB, because iOS sandboxes that so that it is only visible to Signal builds signed with the Signal developers' keys. So that means your messages are all there, on your device, running open-source software, and yet you cannot get them. This cannot have been the intention of Signal being Free Software. Where is "change it to make it do what you wish (freedom 1)"? (I do not use iOS myself but have friends suffering this is
Read the rest
sue. Everybody involved is programmers and yet we seem to be able to do nothing about it.) So it seems that even though the messages are on the user's device, it really is the Signal developers who "own" that data, and have the exclusive and ultimate control over it. Makes me wonder: Does this mean users suffering this need to GDPR-request their data out from Signal?
In Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable
some_furry·Jan 4, 2026
> Signal was made by people who then used it to push their get-rich-quick cryptocurrency scheme on users and who threw all their promises of being open-source and reproducible over board for it. I reviewed Signal's cryptography last year over a long weekend: https://soatok.blog/2025/02/18/reviewing-the-cryptography-us... There's a lot to be said for the utility of reverse engineering tools and skills, but I did not need them, because it was open source. Because Signal's client software still is open source. Whatever you think about MobileCoin, it doesn't actually intersect with the message encryption features at all. At all. The only part in Signal that's not entirely open source are the anti-spam features baked into the Signal Server software. And, frankly, the security of end-to-end encryption messaging apps has so little to do with wha
Read the rest
tever the server software is doing that it's frankly silly to consider that relevant to these discussions. https://soatok.blog/2025/07/09/jurisdiction-is-nearly-irrele... And, yes, this is only a server-side feature. See spam-filter (a git submodule) in https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Server but absent from https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android or https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS > The Signal people are absolutely not trustworthy for reasons of money and greed. I don't think you've raised sufficient justification for this point.
In The PGP problem (2019)
godelski·Nov 29, 2025
> It sounds good in theory but signal updates are beyond excessive Those are two different arguments. Updating too frequently is not equivalent to "doesn't need to be updated." I can agree that they update a bit too frequently but that's nowhere near the argument about never updating. A program cannot be secure if it does not update. Full stop. > Most of the time there is zero explanation for the update There's always a changelog. If you, unlike most people, are interested it is all open source https://github.com/signalapp https://github.com/signalapp/libsignal/releases https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Android/releases https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/releases https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop/releases I would suggest looking at the actual commits and not just the release notes. Libsignal usually has mor
Read the rest
e info about the security > legitimately can't think of another app or program that updates more frequently Probably because they do so silently.
In Molly: An Improved Signal App
anonym29·Sep 3, 2025
Apple is very explicitly and deliberately building their systems to forcibly collect massive amounts of user data that they can and do provide to the federal government. While it is true that close to all companies will comply with lawful orders (but not EVERY company, FWIW: Lavabit famously shut down instead of handing over SSL keys to feds), it is possible to design systems in such a way as to protect FAR more user data privacy than Apple does. Case in point: review the contents of Signal's subpoena response a few years ago: - https://signal.org/bigbrother/cd-california-grand-jury/ This isn't a sham privacy claim like the kind made by Apple that requires you to trust the provider, either. Signal's clients are famously open source - something Apple does not do for pretty much any part of iOS or Mac OS: - https://github.com/signalapp/Sign
Read the rest
al-Android - https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS - https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop Additionally, most of the Signal server's source code (nix the anti-spam components) is open source, as well as the libsignal library used across the clients and server alike: - https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-Desktop - https://github.com/signalapp/libsignal Apple could be this transparent if they wanted to. They choose not to be, because the truth is, they do not actually care about user privacy, they are constantly collecting massive amounts of telemetry, user data, and user metadata from every single device they make, and they have been proven to share this data extensively with the federal government via the Snowden leaks, even in spite of the few actions they take publicly to maintain the marketing illusion of being a company that cares about user privacy, such as in the wake of the San Bernardino shooting.
In Apple pulls iPhone torrent app from AltStore PAL in Europe
palata·Jun 7, 2024
The README says [1]: > If your pull request follows all of the advice above but still has not been merged, this usually means that the developers haven't had time to review it yet. We understand that this might feel frustrating, and we apologize. The Signal team is still small, but we are hiring. Again, this is how open source works. If you need the README to tell you "btw, we don't owe you anything, it is all best effort, and it may be that we don't have time to address your PR", then you haven't (yet) understood open source. Don't take it personally, a ton of people complain like you do. Which is why I don't open source my code anymore. Then people can't benefit from it, but at least they won't feel like they can put pressure on me to work for them for free. Because that's exactly what you are doing: even if you did put efforts into you
Read the rest
r PR, you are asking them to work for you for free right now. And you don't only put pressure by complaining on their GitHub issues: you go one step further by trying to get the HN community to help you put pressure on them. I have had a lot of people telling me "be careful: if you don't work in your free time to implement that feature for me, I won't use your project for free". And many people say that in a much less polite way. [1]: https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS/blob/main/CONTRIBUTI...
In Tell HN: Contributing to Signal iOS is a waste of time
jahnu·Jun 6, 2024Submission

Tell HN: Contributing to Signal iOS is a waste of time

Despite instructions and links to the community forum on the GitHub repo [1] it is almost certainly a complete waste of your time to bother getting to know how to build, modify, and submit PRs to Signal for the iOS app. Good quality PRs languish for years, half-ignored at best, despite comments from users and even ocassionally Signal employees that they are looked at. The iOS app is in dire need of some improvements which many users have been contributing only to have their time completely wasted. I myself contributed a small change that would make it practical to delete all media from a chat. I'm witholding donations until this situation improves. [1] https://github.com/signalapp/Signal-iOS
12 points · Open discussion

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