Signal Numberless Registration is Here!

Our top stories this week:

  • Signal registration without a phone number now available in Android beta
  • ClickFix attacks infecting PCs and Macs are going viral
  • Meta’s Copyright System Is Being Weaponized Against Albanian Protesters
  • How TikTok and Google ended up with information about doctors’ appointments around the world
  • Data Broker Radaris Loses Domains in Privacy Fight

TWIP Live 🔴


Updates from the Team

The Ultimate Instant Messenger Tier List

We compared the top instant messengers (and the ones not quite there yet) to find out how they stack up. Let us know where your favorite choice fell, or if we missed anything in the comments!

The Ultimate Instant Messenger Tier List
We compared the top instant messengers (and the ones not quite there yet) to find out how they stack up. Let us know where your favorite choice fell, or if we missed anything in the comments! ℹ️ Rea…

News Briefs

This week we covered breaking stories like Revolut suffering a data breach due to a fake government request, cops using reasons like "LOL" and random keyboard mashing when doing Flock database searches, X Chat disappearing from app stores, and UK rolling out passkeys for government portals. Check it out!

Privacy & Security News
The latest news in data privacy, cybersecurity, and consumer rights brought to you by Privacy Guides.

Site Update

This week we merged a bunch of pending updates, including but not limited to:

  • Added a guide to disable Windows Recall
  • Removed Mullvad DNS
  • Removed Haveno-Reto
  • Removed Redaris
  • Removed specific Arch anti-recommendations
  • Clarified Tor & Mullvad Browser capabilities
  • And much, much more:
Release 2026.09.17 · privacyguides/privacyguides.org
What’s Changed docs: Remove DeleteMe as org member and PUP link by @jonaharagon in #3261 update: SimpleLogin section to reflect Proton integration status by @ChasNelson1990 in #3058 update: Disabl…

Sources

Signal registration without a phone number now available in Android beta

A long-standing criticism of Signal has been the requirement for a phone number. While Signal does hash phone numbers and allow you to hide them publicly, it's still one more piece of data that could be used to identify you as a user. After recent rumors that Signal was working on a way to sign up without a phone number, it's finally been released into a public beta. The service is extremely limited - it's only on Android and requires Google services - but we hope in the future it will be expanded to more devices (including desktop) and payment methods, including private ones. Hopefully it will also stay affordable, but Signal says prices may change if abuse becomes too prevalent.

Signal registration without a phone number now available in Android beta
Signal Login is an optional registration method that allows users to create a Signal account without providing a phone number.