Signal is testing a major privacy feature: You can create a Signal account without a phone number. The new numberless registration uses an Account ID and Account Key, with an optional username. There’s a small catch: it requires a one time fee of around $3 to help prevent spam. The payment isn’t directly linked to your Signal account. Signal says it uses the same zero knowledge proofs as its donation system to ensure there’s no link between the payment and the account. For now, the only payment method is Google Play, which requires Google Play Services. Signal says it plans to add other payment methods in the future. A pretty significant step for privacy, even if the current implementation still has a Google dependency. Would you use Signal without a phone number? #Signal# #Privacy# #OpenSource# #DeGoogle#