(Be aware: Android customers can entry Sign’s Settings menu both by tapping their profile icon or choosing the menu below the three dots within the upper-right nook, then tapping Settings. iOS customers might want to faucet their profile icon after which Settings to entry the complete menu.)
On Android, you may make Sign your default messaging app by going to Settings > Apps & notifications > Superior > Default Apps > SMS app, and choosing Sign. Simply keep in mind that not everybody you textual content has it put in and that an iOS person you’re texting with would possibly test their Sign app much less usually than they do iMessage. (iOS nonetheless doesn’t allow you to change the default messaging app, sorry!)
As soon as you’ve got registered your Sign account, you possibly can choose a username for those who determine to take action. (For maximizing your privateness, WIRED recommends that you just do.) Merely go to Settings and faucet in your Profile on the prime of the settings web page. Choose the @ subject and set your username, which have to be distinctive and embrace two or extra numbers on the finish. You may change your username at anytime.
A profit of getting a Sign username is that you could select to forestall different Sign customers from seeing your telephone quantity, and you’ll stop folks from discovering you on Sign in the event that they already know your quantity. To allow these choices, go to Settings > Privateness > Telephone Quantity and choose No one below Who Can See My Quantity and/or Who Can Discover Me By Quantity.
Probably the most crucial settings to allow is profile PINs, which can make it simpler so that you can hold your account information even while you switch units and to guard your contact lists, profile data, settings, and extra. You may set one up while you be part of or head to Privateness > Sign PIN in your app settings to set or change yours anytime. The introduction of PINs was controversial amongst cryptography hard-liners, who questioned whether or not the so-called Safe Worth Restoration they have been tied to launched potential vulnerabilities. It didn’t assist that Sign had at first made the PINs obligatory. You may choose out now by going to the Create PIN display screen and tapping Choose extra, then Disable PIN. Simply keep in mind that for those who achieve this, you received’t have the ability to convey your contacts with you to a brand new gadget, and delicate account data could also be extra susceptible.
Lastly, after getting your PIN arrange, allow Registration Lock by going to Settings > Account and toggling on Registration Lock. With this function enabled, attackers received’t have the ability to take over your account and register it to a brand new gadget in the best way they did by means of the Twilio hack talked about above.
Shield Your Display
It’s necessary to guarantee that what occurs in Sign stays in Sign. This implies maintaining folks from seeing what you’re doing there from a lock display screen or when switching apps. There’s not a lot level in having an app for delicate messages if they simply pop up in your show everytime you obtain one.
To show off Sign lock display screen notifications on iOS, go to your telephone’s Settings > Notifications, then scroll down and faucet Sign > Present Previews > By no means. On Android, the method is analogous. From your private home display screen, head to Settings, then Apps & Notifications, the place you possibly can flip off all notifications. Should you want extra granular management, you’ll find that within the Sign app itself, the place the steps are the identical it doesn’t matter what platform you’re on. Faucet your profile, then Notifications, then Present, the place you possibly can select whether or not to show the title, content material, and actions for an incoming textual content; simply the title; or nothing in any respect. You too can mute notifications for a selected dialog for a set period of time by tapping on a message thread, then the contact header, after which Mute. You may silence a contact’s notifications for an hour, a day, every week, or a yr.