Signal went down for 2 hours in Nairobi and I found out the hard way

I was in Nairobi last Tuesday using Signal to coordinate with a local journalist who covers government corruption. The app just stopped working around 2pm local time, and neither of us could send messages for almost 2 hours. Turns out it was a server outage, but it made me realize how much we depend on one tool. Has anyone else had a major encryption app fail on them during a sensitive conversation?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliver_mitchell14d ago

Why is everyone so quick to freak out whenever Signal goes down for an hour or two? I get that you were in the middle of something important, but that extra 2 hours of downtime just means you have to use a backup like WhatsApp or Telegram for a bit. Signal has been solid for me for years, way more reliable than other apps I've used. Having a single point of failure is annoying, sure, but it's not the end of the world. Maybe the real lesson is to have a backup plan ready, not to bash encryption tools that actually protect your privacy.

evan_stone14d ago

Fair point, but people just panic easy.