Signal is making all the right moves, this time with some updates that will make the encrypted messaging service — trusted by millions — more user-friendly.

There is now the option to have customised chat wallpapers, which is also a feature on WhatsApp. Of course, Signal’s backbone is its privacy-centric features. Signal is supported by the non-profit Signal Foundation, set up in 2018 by WhatsApp founder Brian Acton and security researcher (and Signal Messenger CEO) Moxie Marlinspike, who created an encryption protocol that is also used by WhatsApp. Signal is also recommended by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Edward Snowden.

Coming to the chat wallpaper feature, open the app on your phone and visit any individual’s profile. Tap on the chat wallpaper option and then on ‘set wallpaper’. There is an option to choose a solid or gradient colour as well as photos from your phone’s gallery.

Also check out Signal’s new online campaign, featuring Taraji P. Henson. She is seen getting out of a car and walking towards her apartment with cameras and mics along the way. “We are under surveillance, y’all. Privacy is not the big tech business model. You know that thing where you’re talking about something, and then you get ads about it on your social? That’s not convenient, that’s creepy,” she says.