Why Signal Caught My Attention as an Open Source Project

When it comes to messaging apps, most of us are already familiar with WhatsApp, Telegram, or even good old SMS. But a few years ago, I stumbled upon Signal, and it quickly became one of the most fascinating projects I’ve ever explored.

What makes Signal special isn’t just the fact that it offers end-to-end encryption by default (although that’s already a big deal). For me, the real highlight is that Signal is fully open source—both the app and the server.

That’s important because it means anyone can audit the code, understand how it works, and even contribute to its development. There’s no “black box” or hidden trick in how your messages are handled. Compared to other chat apps owned by big corporations, Signal stands out as a privacy-first platform that is transparent by design.

As someone really passionate about open source, this resonates with me a lot. In Indonesia, it’s not very common to see local developers getting deeply involved with starting and maintaining open source projects, but tools like Signal show us what’s possible when a community comes together to build something meaningful.

In fact, discovering Signal is one of the reasons I became more interested in exploring how self-hosting could work for messaging platforms. Imagine running your own secure messaging server—having complete control over your data, while still using the same strong encryption that Signal is known for.

That’s where my curiosity started, and it’s a topic I’ll be writing more about in this series. In the next post, I’ll dive into what it actually takes to self-host Signal—the benefits, the challenges, and why it might be worth considering if privacy and data control matter to you.