Encrypted by default, not by choice.
WhatsApp encrypts messages end to end but is owned by a company whose business model depends on data, and Telegram's ordinary chats are not end to end encrypted at all, only its separate secret chats are. Signal encrypts every conversation by default, with no separate mode to remember to switch on, and is run by a non-profit foundation with no advertising business behind it.
For most everyday use the difference is genuinely invisible, a message sends and arrives the same way regardless of app. The difference shows up in what each company can technically see or hand over if compelled to, and on that measure Signal is built to have the least to hand over of the three, by design rather than by policy that could quietly change later.
Sealed sender, a detail worth knowing.
Signal uses a technique called sealed sender, which hides not just the content of a message but, as far as technically possible, who sent it to whom, even from Signal's own servers processing the delivery. Most messaging apps can see message metadata, who is talking to whom and when, even without reading the content itself, and Signal specifically minimises that exposure by design rather than as an afterthought. It is a subtle distinction, since two conversations can look identical to a user while behaving very differently once they leave the phone.
Disappearing messages, set once and forget.
Signal's disappearing message timer sits inside every conversation, with options from thirty seconds up to four weeks, and it can be set as a default for all new chats under Settings, Privacy, Disappearing Messages, similar in spirit to WhatsApp's version covered in our separate guide but with a wider range of timers to choose from.
Once set for a conversation, both sides see the same timer applied automatically, with no separate agreement needed message by message.
Usernames instead of a phone number.
Signal allows a chosen username as an alternative way for people to find and message you, so a conversation can start without either side learning the other's actual phone number. This is a genuine point of difference from WhatsApp and standard Telegram chats, both of which are built around the phone number as the primary identifier from the first message onward. Once a username is set, you can choose to hide your phone number from everyone except people already saved in your contacts, a setting worth pairing with it for anyone who would rather a new contact never learn the number behind the conversation at all.
The protocol both apps actually share.
Here is the detail most people never learn: WhatsApp's own end to end encryption is built on the Signal Protocol, developed by the same organisation behind the Signal app and made freely available for other companies to build on. The two apps share the same underlying cryptography for the actual scrambling of a message, which is precisely why WhatsApp's encryption is considered genuinely strong despite the company's very different approach to data collection around that core.
What differs is everything built around the protocol, who owns the company, what metadata gets collected, whether the source code is fully open for anyone to inspect, and how much of the design treats privacy as the whole product rather than one feature among many.
Backing up without weakening the design.
Signal deliberately avoids the convenient cloud backup that WhatsApp and Telegram both offer through iCloud or Google Drive, since a cloud backup is, by definition, a copy of your messages stored somewhere other than your own device. Instead, Signal offers a local backup on Android, encrypted with a passphrase you generate and keep yourself, and a direct device to device transfer when moving to a new phone.
It is a slightly less convenient system, and that inconvenience is the point, since it removes an entire category of storage that could otherwise be requested, breached or simply forgotten about on a server somewhere. If a phone is lost without a recent local backup, the conversation history genuinely does not come back, which is a fair price for most people to accept.
The honest trade off.
Signal's privacy design is not really the debate; its adoption is. Far fewer people have it installed compared with WhatsApp, so it works best when both sides are willing to install one more app for a conversation that will genuinely benefit from it, rather than as a universal replacement for messaging apps everyone already has. Suggesting it to a specific contact for a specific purpose tends to work better than trying to move every conversation across at once.
Using it to book with us.
We do not require Signal, since WhatsApp remains the main channel and Telegram the alternative, both reachable through the buttons on this site. Guests who already use Signal for other conversations are welcome to send the same three details, a name, a place, an hour, and a hotel outcall in Utrecht confirms exactly as it would anywhere else. A companion filed under auburn and red or curvy receives the message identically, and from there the booking sequence runs exactly as it does for any other conversation.