Encrypted messaging app Signal is surging in popularity — and it just added new tools meant to help protesters stay anonymous

• Encrypted messaging app Signal rolled out new features Wednesday meant to help protect the anonymity of people organizing and participating in protests across the country.
• Signal has surged in popularity in the past week, becoming the eighth most downloaded social networking app among US iPhone users on Tuesday.
• The app lets people message, call, and share video using end-to-end encryption, meaning their communications will be kept hidden if their phones are hacked or confiscated.

People are downloading encrypted messaging app Signal at an unprecedented rate, and the app is rolling out new features this week meant for people participating in protests across the US.

Signal lets people send photos, videos, and messages using end-to-end encryption that would prevent law enforcement from seeing their communications if their phone was confiscated or hacked.

The app has steadily surged in popularity over the past week and became the eighth most downloaded social networking app among US iPhone users on Tuesday, according to analytics firm App Annie. Signal was also the tenth most downloaded social networking app among US Android users Tuesday.

Signal announced Wednesday that it would roll out new features meant to protect the anonymity of people participating in protests. One is a blur tool in the app's image editor that lets users obscure the faces of people in photos — a practice that activists have embraced over concerns that protesters could be easily identified with facial recognition software and possibly targeted for retaliation.

"Many of the people and groups who are organizing [protests] are using Signal to communicate, and we're working hard to keep up with the increased traffic," Signal co-founder Moxie Marlinspike said in a statement. "One immediate thing seems clear: 2020 is a pretty good year to cover your face."

Signal also plans to start giving away free face coverings designed to thwart facial recognition tools, the company announced this week.

Signal and other apps that provide encrypted messaging services have been targeted by law enforcement agencies for years. Signal has fought subpoenas from the FBI that aim to uncover user information, and Attorney General William Barr has repeatedly pressured Apple and Facebook to stop allowing end-to-end encryption in messaging services they own.