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The recently popular messaging service Signal has been in trouble for about a day. Although it has started working again for some users and on certain platform combinations, problem reports continue and the signal status panel indicates continuing technical difficulties. The company’s acknowledgments indicate that the disruption is linked to the growing pain of its rapid growth and the crazy influx of new users. However, we have been informed that he is working on a correction and in the meantime, Signal thanks the customer for his patience.
We added new servers and extra capacity at a record pace every day this week without stopping, but today we have surpassed even our most optimistic projections. Millions and millions of new users are sending a message that privacy is important. We appreciate your patience.
– Sign (@signalapp) January 15, 2021
The popularity of the Signal messaging service has exploded in recent weeks, largely due to concerns over the recent changes in WhatsApp’s terms of service. Problem reports started on Friday at about 10:00 am Eastern time. The pace of reporting has slowed since then, with some claiming that the service works by sending messages to others on certain platforms, although other combinations continue to struggle, and Signal’s official status panel indicates that the problems continue.
Volume report on the Downdetector.
Some users can log in and receive some messages, and messages sent during the outage arrive as an “incorrect encrypted message”. Others say they can send, but cannot receive messages, or that conversations between certain platform combinations (like iOS for iOS) work, while others don’t. Most report a continuous error message banner that states, “The signal is experiencing technical difficulties. We are working hard to restore service as quickly as possible.”
One of the error messages that Signal users may see during the interruption. Thank you: Nicholas Blasgen.
For those unfamiliar, Signal is a privacy-centric messaging service available on Android, iOS and the desktop (including Windows, macOS and Linux) that offers secure and encrypted communication. It is open source and run by a non-profit organization, and a popular alternative to services like WhatsApp and Hangouts.
the slack decreases and I’m free
the signal goes down and I’m looking forward
– Tony Romm (@TonyRomm) January 15, 2021
It is not surprising that Signal has a problem like this, given the pace of growth it has seen recently. Based on Play Store metrics, its user base has increased at least 5 times in the past week, and this is ignoring other platforms. The real numbers can be close to 10 or 20X. With an explosion of new users like this, growth pains like these are basically inevitable, and today’s downtime is expected.
I think the @signalapp applications attacked the server with DDoS. The servers ran out of capacity due to the influx of users and started to return HTTP 508, which was not handled by the application, and millions of applications started to try the connection again at once. Judging by the recent commits at https://t.co/KD6kS2o9wt
– Daniel Novak (@NovakDaniel) January 16, 2021
Signal told us around 11am ET on Friday, 1/15, that it was fixing the problem and that it would be back to normal soon, although it looks like the resolution may be taking a little longer than originally planned. Given the speed with which the service has grown recently, we cannot blame them for being the sudden victims of their own success. Learning how to climb is difficult.