Signal
Private messenger with end-to-end encryption. Signal provides an official Linux desktop app, linked to your phone.
Our verdict
Signal is the straightforward private messaging option on Linux, and unlike WhatsApp it has a genuine desktop app that Signal themselves publish. There is an installer file for Ubuntu and Mint, and a single-file version that runs on any distribution.
It works as a companion to your phone rather than on its own. You install Signal on the phone first, then scan a code to link the computer. From then on messages and calls appear in both places, though your older phone history does not fully come across.
For a Windows switcher this is one of the smoothest moves, because the desktop app is the same everywhere. The only real question is whether the people you message are on Signal. The Flathub listing is community maintained, so prefer the download from Signal's own site.
What's good
- Signal provides official Linux downloads, including a version that runs on any distribution
- Messages and calls are encrypted end to end by default
- Open source, so the code can be checked by anyone
- Free, with no ads and no company reading your messages
What to know first
- You must set it up on a phone first, the desktop app only links to it
- Older messages from your phone do not all appear on the desktop
- Fewer people use it than WhatsApp, so it depends who you talk to
- The Flathub package is community maintained, not published by Signal
The details
- Cost
- Free
- Open source
- Yes (AGPL-3.0)
- How you install it
- .deb installer, AppImage download, App store (Flatpak)
Windows apps it can replace
Last checked . Sources: