Good news for Signal app users! Now change number without wiping out data

San Francisco: Encrypted messaging app Signal has announced that it now lets users change their phone numbers without wiping out conversation threads.

The company said it now provides the ability to change the phone number on your Signal account while retaining all of your chats, profile information, and groups.

"We now provide the ability to change the phone number on your Signal account, while retaining all of your chats, profile information, and groups...If you are getting a new phone, but keeping your old number, you can use our end-to-end encrypted device-to-device transfer on Android or iOS to carry your contacts and chat history over to your new device," the company said in a blogpost.

Signal asked users to make sure they do this before wiping or recycling their old device. This is because Signal messages are excluded from the built-in operating system and cloud backups.

"If you’re keeping your existing phone, but getting a new number, the Change Number feature will let you keep your profile and all of your existing messages and groups on your device, while making you reachable at your new phone number," it added.

If your mobile phone is running the latest version of Signal for Android or iOS (and all your linked iPads and desktops are updated too), you’ll find the option to change your number under account settings. 

When someone changes their phone number on Signal, users will see a chat event letting them know their number has changed, the company said.