Signal allows you to change your phone number while easily keeping your old data.
Previously, if they changed numbers, Signal users had to drop their entire conversation and re-subscribe to the service. From now on, they will be able to keep their messages, their profile information, and their groups.
How to change number
To change the phone number associated with their Signal account, users will need to go to Account Settings. They will then just have to click on the option “Change telephone number” and fill in a form with the old and the new telephone number. A support note will then notify the user that this change will be irrevocable and final. Note that if he wants to add a new number, the user must be able to receive Signal messages sent to his old number.
A feature will alert the user’s contacts that the user has changed his number. Concretely, a new message will appear in the discussion thread and Signal will offer the user to “update the contacts” of his phone. In other words, to make the number change made by the person with whom he speaks in his address book.
Beware of changing phone
Users can keep the conversation if they stay on the same device or smartphone. In other words, this new feature is only functional for those who get a new phone number but keep their current phone.
“If you buy a new phone, but keep your old number, you can use our end-to-end encrypted device-to-device transfer on Android or iOS to transfer your contacts and chat history to your new device”, indicates Signal. So, to change the phone and keep all its data, it is imperative to use Signal’s local data transfer feature. It allows you to transfer data from an old device to a new one.
Finally, to take advantage of this new update, it is necessary to have at least the Android version v5.30.6 or iOS v5.27.1 of the application. “If your mobile phone is running the latest version of Signal for Android or iOS (and all of your linked iPads and desktops are also updated), you’ll find the change number option in Account Settings”, explains Signal in his post.