Messenger app Signal now lets you find people by name, not number

A Signal update with one major new privacy feature is being gradually rolled out to all users over the coming weeks. — Photo: Zacharie Scheurer/dpa

BERLIN: In the world of Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms, we typically find someone by their username. On messenger apps, however, we still largely find and save a new contact with a telephone number.

That's changing in an upcoming version of privacy-oriented WhatsApp rival, Signal, which is trialling a new feature allowing people to keep their phone number hidden and be found with a unique username instead.