
Signal added nearly 1.3 million users on Monday alone, after averaging just 50,000 downloads a day last year, according to estimates from Apptopia, an app-data firm. On Tuesday, Telegram said it added more than 25 million users over the previous three days, pushing it to over 500 million users. The result was a mass migration that, if it lasts, could weaken the power of Facebook and other big tech companies. The notification set off a wave of anxiety, fueled by viral chain messages that falsely claimed that Facebook could read WhatsApp messages. In response, conservatives sought out new apps where they could communicate.Īt the same time, privacy worries rose over WhatsApp, which last week reminded users in a pop-up notification that it shares some of their data with its parent company.

Amazon, Apple and Google also cut off support for Parler, a social network popular with Mr.


Tech companies including Facebook and Twitter removed thousands of far-right accounts - including President Trump’s - after the storming of the Capitol. Their sudden jump in popularity was spurred by a series of events last week that stoked growing anxiety over some of the big tech companies and their communication apps, like WhatsApp, which Facebook owns. Telegram offers some encrypted messaging options, but is largely popular for its group-based chat rooms where people can discuss a variety of subjects. Signal allows messages to be sent with “end-to-end encryption,” meaning no one but the sender and receiver can read its contents. However, if the user’s profile photo has never been updated from the default initials, it’s difficult to say if they have blocked you.Over the past week, tens of millions of people have downloaded Signal and Telegram, making them the two hottest apps in the world. If a person’s picture suddenly changes from their usual photo to their initials, it might mean they have blocked you. Otherwise, the app uses your initials on a randomly chosen color background in a similar way Gmail does. When you make an account on Telegram, you can use a photo of your choosing as your profile picture or any of the stickers and emojis Telegram offers. The Profile Picture Is Back to the User’s Initials

But if you’ve talked to them recently, it might be easier to conclude whether they’ve blocked you or not. Unfortunately, this is not an accurate indicator that someone has blocked you if they actually haven’t been on Telegram for a while or if they’ve hidden their activity status. If the user’s status is listed as “Seen a long time ago” instead of “Online” or the estimated time since they’ve last been online, chances are they have blocked you.
