How to Verify Signal Contacts

With the focus on security and privacy, Signal messenger has managed to become one the most secure messaging apps and get the approval of many security experts. There are many messaging apps now available on the market but what people are looking for among them is an app which offers more security and privacy. We use our messaging apps to share our personal data and this is absolutely essential to account for security. With this fact in mind, Signal app developers have managed to offer an application which is perfect for keeping private data private. One of the greatest features of Signal for privacy is the ability to verify Signal contacts and make sure that the conversation is private. If you want to find out how you can do that, you are in the right place.

Signal app security features

As I mentioned earlier, Signal is a messaging app with focus on security and privacy. One of the greatest features of Signal is implementing end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls. End-to-end encryption ensures that the messages can be viewed only by the two ends of the conversation and no in-between person would be able to hack Signal account. Another great feature of Signal is its simple user-interface which makes it absolutely easy to use Signal application.

In addition, Signal can be used as your default SMS app on Android devices. But what you need to know is that if your target person does not have a Signal account, you texts and calls will not be encrypted.

Another feature of Signal for security is the ability to enable disappearing messages. With disappearing messages feature, you can set a timer and specify a time within which your messages will be deleted from your device as well as the target device.

One of unique features of Signal app is the ability to verify Signal contacts by checking the authenticity of the person you are talking to. Here is how you can do that.

Verify Signal contacts

As stated before, chat conversations via Signal messenger are encrypted. In order to make sure that you are having a secure chat with your contact and the encryption key is not tampered with, Signal allows you to authenticate the code. The process to verify Signal contacts require that the two ends of the conversation are physically present. Here are steps you need to take for key verification on Signal:

1. Launch Signal application on your mobile phone
2. Open the chat conversation with the friend that you want to verify
3. Tap on the three dots icon on top right corner of the screen to open the menu
4. Tap on Conversation Settings from the opened menu
5. Choose Verify Safety Numbers

Now you will see a page including a QR code and a list of code numbers. These numbers are unique for every contact that you have a conversation with. Now, your contact must navigate to the same page to view the QR code. Now you must tap on the QR code to scan the code on your friend’s screen using the camera. Your camera will scan the QR code and you will see a green check mark which means that your contact has been verified successfully.

If you see a red circle, this means that something has gone wrong and Signal was unable to verify the contact. It is recommended that you don’t share sensitive topics through that conversation and wait for a while and try again until the security key is verified.