Signal appears to allow users to create an account without providing a phone number. However, users must pay for this feature.
6 Likes
Hopefully they’ll accept Monero for payment, if this feature releases at some point.
5 Likes
This is great news. I like it more than Threema’s model of charging for the app itself because it still allows for free users (who will continue to need a phone number). It may also prove more sustainable as a revenue source as someone may wish to pay for multiple usernames for separate identities/purposes.
2 Likes
I would pay for multiple identities if i could.
3 Likes
This is a great idea, but for me there are two important requirements.
- Ability to pay anonymously.
- A one-time payment (no subscription).
The second requirement seems to be satisfied, but it remains to be seen if the first will. The fact that Signal has already introduced paid features, and that they currently can only be bought via Google and Apple’s stores is an issue.
IMHO, in 2026, new and established privacy companies should be able to offer anonymous payments at launch. The easiest way to do that, IMO, would be to have gift cards that can be bought anonymously from placed like the Proxy Store, so that you can credit your account.
2 Likes
Signal did accept my 2 voip numbers, so I now I have 2 signals accounts.
Thoses numbers are not linked to me with an easy to traced payment method (not crypto), so I feel safe enought for my threat model.
The same numbers were rejected by other online services, because they were detected as voip.
So, Signal was already nice for that, I guess they need and want to limit spammers, so it they can charger even 2-3 $, that would accomplish that and this price is not too high for users like us.
1 Like
I’m curious what price it will be. The nice thing will be that you don’t have to worry about ever losing your phone number.
I wish it would be anonymous but I doubt it will be.
1 Like
Can I pay with MobileCoin?
3 Likes
real nicee
What would the use case be?
Can’t you accomplish the same thing with multiple phone numbers at the moment?
What’s the use case and advantage gained with multiple Signal accounts?
Oh, Nate…
Actually, now that you mention it, maybe they’ve finally found a use for MobileCoin!
4 Likes
Different identities. You can only have one username at a time currently and can only have one “name.” If you want to segregate your identity for whatever reason, that makes it impossible. I could see this being useful for people with pseudonymous public personas.
3 Likes
Some people have multiple identities, they like to compartmentalize everything and Phone numbers are not like email addresses where you can get them infinitely…well, they are not as easy to get (anonymously) as email Addresses.
So that’s very much the use case, you might have separate identities that you don’t want to be mixed together
2 Likes
Essentially getting multiple entry points to talk to me, without having to publically connect them. So i can publish one for my work let’s say and one for Privacy Guides without them being connectable but outside world. You can do this with phone numbers but you need multiple apps.
1 Like
Dont tell them maybe they will actually do it and let us be honest. That is not desirable.
1 Like
How do I do this with multiple apps and phone numbers?
The article states, that the phone number requirement is to prevent abuse.
Does not sound like crypto payments (monero) would really go with that vibe.
It’s about cost they clearly don’t care too much about their users anonymity.