One phone, one account — that's been Signal's iron rule for years, and the thing that set it apart from other messaging apps. You could link it to a computer, link it to an iPad, but if you wanted to log into the same number on two phones at once, the answer was always no. This update loosens that constraint.
Signal's Android version 8.20 and iPhone/iPad version 8.22 both add a new device-linking option. Now a single account can link multiple Android phones or iPhones, with Android tablets also joining the supported lineup. Once linked, all devices sync new messages, effectively letting a Signal account that used to be tied to a single device spread across multiple phones.
The more practical detail is how old messages get handled. When you add a new device, Signal lets you choose whether to bring along an end-to-end encrypted copy of your previous conversations. This option exists for situations where a device might be shared, lost, or fall into someone else's hands — if you don't transfer the history, the risk stays contained on the original device instead of spreading to the new one.
There's also a fair amount of interface engineering behind this update. Signal says the team made a number of adjustments for foldable phones to make large-screen devices usable, which is part of why Android tablet support was able to happen. That said, the company admits the large-screen Android interface is "still in development," and display optimizations for the Chromebook app are likewise still in progress. In other words, multi-device support at Signal has only just started rolling out — it's far from polished yet.
