Hey friends â Letâs talk about secure communications and secure lifestyle. After yesterdayâs post, you might be thinking âHey, this might be a useful tool if I ever need it.â Letâs change that mindset to âThis is something I should use right now.â Itâs important to know your tools before they become necessary, and if youâre already using them when you think they might be useful, then theyâre already protecting you. Perhaps more importantly, you probably have friends that are more vulnerable than you and will need those tools before you do; theyâll be glad you both started early.
Letâs start with getting connected to Signal. Signal starts with your phone, so grab âSignal Instant Messengerâ from the app store â Open Whisper Systems is the developer. When you start it for the first time, enter your phone number (it should be pre-filled for you) and it will go through the setup process automatically. Youâll get an SMS message during this process; you can ignore it because Signal handles it on its own. After a minute or two you the process should finish and youâre ready to chat!
If youâre like me, you do a lot of chatting from your computer, and prefer typing on a keyboard rather than a phone. As it turns out, Signal has a desktop chat program, they just donât do a good job of advertising it. You need to have Signal installed and set up on your phone before it will work, so do that first. Youâll also need your phone handy for initial setup. Download the Signal desktop app from the Chrome Web Store:https://chrome.google.com/âŚ/bikioccmkafdpakkkcpdbppfkghcmihâŚ
Once itâs downloaded, start it up and click through screens until you see a QR code. You need to pair this with your phone, so open Signal on your phone, go to Settings in the menu, and choose Linked Devices. Touch the plus to add a device, then use your phoneâs camera to scan the QR code on your computer screen. Once itâs done youâll be asked to enter a name for your computer (this can be whatever you like), and youâre ready to chat!
Integrating Signal into your life is as easy as deciding to use it instead of other chat programs. If youâd message somebody with Hangouts (formerly GChat) or Facebook Messenger, use Signal instead. Signal has lots of nifty features, so Iâll spend several more posts going into more depth. Note that because your phone number is basically your username, you need their phone number to chat.
