After WhatsApp announced a more Facebook-friendly privacy policy, technical billionaire Elon Musk indifferently suggested using a more secure encrypted messaging service. As the Apple App Store and Google Play ratings show, people followed Musk’s advice.
Musk’s tweet came last Thursday with just two words: “Use Sign. “This triggered a storm of downloads for the WhatsApp alternative. As longtime users noticed, more and more notifications were emerging about new users joining the messaging app. With so many new downloads, there was even a wait.
Data from app analytics firm Apptopia shows that just on Thursday, after the tweet, there were 63,345 downloads of Signal apps worldwide. The previous day, there were 45,086 downloads. This is on iOS and Android devices.
But it took a whole day for Musk’s suggestion to actually get it right. The day after Elon’s tweet, Signal reached a record number of downloads: around 90,000. Before that, Signal’s biggest download day was June 1, amid protests from Black Lives Matter.
Over the weekend, Signal reached the number one app on every App Store for iOS devices. It is still in the top position on Monday afternoon. Never been on top before. For Android users, it came in seventh overall, also the highest ever recorded on the Google Play Store.