Security News > 2022 > October > Signal will remove support for SMS text messages on Android
"We have now reached the point where SMS support no longer makes sense. In order to enable a more streamlined Signal experience, we are starting to phase out SMS support from the Android app," the company said in a blog post published today.
Signal will start notifying them to export their SMS messages and switch to a new default app to manage their SMS messages.
When Signal is used as the unified Android messaging app, both Signal and non-Signal contacts are displayed in the contact list, with Signal ones marked with a blue letter.
The company said that having unencrypted SMS messages right next to secure Signal messages in the same interface could easily lead to confusion even though they're each tagged as such.
Last but not least, a third reason given by Signal for this move is that they can lead to expensive phone bills when mistakenly sending SMS messages instead of Signal messages due to high fees in some parts of the world.
"We understand that this change will be frustrating for those of you who use Signal on Android for SMS messaging in addition to sending Signal messages. It rarely feels good to have to switch up the ways that you communicate with the people who matter to you," Signal added.