The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2023–2024
Signal's optional usernames decouple messaging identity from phone numbers
Signal lets users connect by username, QR code or link, hiding phone numbers by default — privacy becomes the default, not a setting.
Signal Foundation
What it had to solve
Signal accounts are anchored to phone numbers, so starting a chat meant revealing a number that ties messaging identity to a SIM and carrier. The product team wanted private connections without a searchable directory of users.
How it works
For years, connecting on Signal meant giving someone your phone number — an identifier tied to your SIM, your carrier and often your real identity. It shaped every privacy decision in the app, and it was the one thing users could not control.
In February 2024 Signal shipped optional usernames: a 3–32 character handle with its own QR code and link. People can message you by username or link without ever seeing your number, and because Signal keeps no searchable username directory, the name only works when you share it.
The bigger move was changing defaults: phone numbers are no longer visible to anyone who doesn't already have them saved, and users can restrict who can find or call them by number at all. The phone number remains necessary for registration, but it stops being a public address.
Why it lands
- The insight treats the phone number as a privacy problem to be designed away, not a policy to be managed.
- Usernames are purely connective — not logins or visible handles — so Signal avoids the impersonation and directory problems other platforms created.
- Making number-hiding the default means protection doesn't depend on each user's settings discipline.
- QR codes and links give a physical, shareable way to connect, covering users who never want to type a username.
- Keeping phone numbers only for registration preserved the security and spam controls the service relies on.
What it did
Rolled out to everyone in beta on 20 February 2024 and out of beta by early March 2024. Signal made hiding your number the default while keeping phone numbers only for registration, closing a long-standing loophole where contact with someone meant giving away your number.
What you can take
A privacy product wins by changing the default, not by adding another toggle — when the sensitive identifier stops being how people connect, protection stops depending on user discipline.
Since then
Signal first tested usernames in November 2023, rolled them out in beta on 20 February 2024, and made them widely available by early March 2024. The company framed the change as a step toward a Signal where your phone number is a registration detail rather than an identity — and continued applying the same privacy-by-default thinking to later releases.
Sources
- Keep your phone number private with Signal usernames
- Now all Signal users can share usernames instead of phone numbers
- Signal now lets you keep your phone number private with the launch of usernames
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