Signal has spent years telling users that a phone number remains essential. The messaging app’s leaders cited spam defense and contact discovery as reasons. Yet fresh code changes tell another story. The nonprofit now builds support for accounts that skip the phone number entirely.
Developers spotted the shift in Signal’s server repository this summer. Four distinct commits reworked how the backend handles registration. One prevents registration locks on accounts without numbers. Another adds tools for country codes on numberless profiles. A third introduces pessimistic locking for those accounts. The fourth blocks phone-number identity key operations that would make no sense without a linked number. AboutSignal first reported the changes on July 30, 2026.
The commits carry a clear message. Accounts without phone numbers stay that way. They cannot add one later. Existing accounts cannot drop theirs. The separation appears permanent by design. This limits the feature to new users for now. Existing subscribers keep their current setup.
But why the change? User frustration built for years. The long-running discussion thread on Signal’s community forum captures the sentiment. Hundreds of posts plead for alternatives. Many cite privacy risks tied to phone numbers. Others point to regions where SMS verification fails or carries surveillance risks. The Signal Community forum thread shows the demand stretches back years and remains active.
Signal’s own support pages still explain the status quo. Phone numbers enable easy friend discovery. They also raise the cost of creating accounts. That cost barrier slows spammers. Usernames arrived in 2024 as a partial fix. They let people connect without sharing numbers. Yet registration still demanded a verifiable phone line. Signal’s official support article on phone number privacy and usernames makes this explicit: “You will still need a phone number to sign up for Signal even if you want to use a username.”
Ehren Kret, Signal’s chief technology officer, addressed the issue directly months ago. He spoke at the FUTO Don’t Be Evil conference in March 2026. A recording surfaced in July. Kret said the team hopes to offer phone-number-free signups later in the year. The holdup? Abuse prevention. “The main downside at the moment and the reason we don’t have that yet today is removing accounts who are spamming people or otherwise engaging in abuse of the service is sort of our primary way of protecting people from spam,” he explained.
His solution? Make the alternative cost money. A one-time payment. Not a subscription. The fee raises the price of mass account creation. Spammers find it unattractive. Legitimate users pay once and gain more privacy. Source code references call the feature “Signal Login.” Pricing remains undecided. Code examples use placeholder amounts.
By early August the picture sharpened. Independent trackers confirmed the paid model. Cryptopolitan reported on August 7, 2026 that Vitalik Buterin endorsed the move. The Ethereum co-founder called it “very welcome.” His support aligns with years of donations to Signal and parallel privacy projects.
Development accelerated. On September 3, Privacy Guides noted that Signal’s Android beta 8.26 merged code for numberless accounts. The functionality sits disabled for now. Testers cannot use it yet. The merge signals the feature nears readiness. Engineers still tune anti-abuse systems and payment flows.
This matters for more than convenience. Phone numbers tie users to real-world identities. Telecom records, data brokers, and government requests create trails. In authoritarian settings the risk grows acute. SMS interception attacks remain common. A paid, numberless path reduces that exposure at signup. It does not erase every metadata concern. Behavioral patterns and contact graphs still exist. Yet it removes one persistent identifier.
Signal already spent millions each year on phone verification. The 2023 estimate reached $6 million. Shifting some users to a direct payment could offset costs. It also creates a new revenue stream for the nonprofit. Current paid features rely on app store billing. Future numberless registration may explore more private payment options. Community discussions on Privacy Guides forums speculate about cryptocurrency support. Signal has accepted Zcash donations but not Monero. Decisions on payment methods will shape adoption among privacy maximalists.
Plenty of questions linger. Will the fee stay low enough for broad access? Five dollars? Ten? Higher? Too low and spam returns. Too high and the feature appeals only to a niche. How will linked devices work? Desktop clients already move toward standalone operation in some tests. A numberless account could simplify that transition.
Existing privacy controls stay in place. Users can hide their phone number from discovery. They can share usernames or QR codes instead. The new path simply removes the number at creation. Two account classes will coexist. Phone-based users and paid numberless ones. The backend must treat them differently. Registration lock, key operations, and recovery flows diverge.
Critics argue the change comes late. Competitors such as SimpleX Chat and Session never required phone numbers. They built different anti-spam models from the start. Signal chose the path of least friction for mainstream users. Billions already carry phone numbers. Contact lists sync easily. That choice helped Signal grow into the default secure messenger for many. Now it adjusts for those who want more.
The timing feels deliberate. Recent features strengthened verification without user effort. Automatic key verification, built with help from Trail of Bits, reduces reliance on manual safety number checks. On-device backups expand. Each addition shores up trust. A numberless registration option caps the privacy improvements.
Signal never promised anonymity. It delivers strong encryption and minimal data retention. Phone numbers always sat as the exception. The new system narrows that gap. Not every user will choose the paid route. Most will stick with free phone registration. The option itself changes the conversation. It signals that Signal listens to long-standing requests. It treats privacy as an ongoing engineering problem rather than a solved one.
Implementation details will decide success. Payment processing must avoid new data collection. Account recovery needs to work without a phone fallback. Spam defenses have to prove effective at scale. If the system works, Signal could attract users previously put off by the phone requirement. Journalists in restrictive countries. Activists. Anyone wary of linking their identity to a messaging app.
For now the feature remains hidden behind a beta flag. No public launch date exists. Yet the code tells its own story. Signal prepares to let users buy their way out of the phone number mandate. The experiment will test whether a small fee can replace the economic barrier that phone numbers once provided. Success could influence other services wrestling with similar trade-offs.
And the community watches closely. Forum threads grow. Analysts test every new beta. Privacy researchers examine the commits line by line. The outcome will shape expectations not just for Signal but for the entire category of encrypted messengers. One payment at registration. No phone number attached. A small shift on paper. A meaningful one for those who value it.
Signal’s Quiet Push to Break Its Phone Number Rule first appeared on Web and IT News.