How to Verify Your Contacts in Signal on Android

Last Updated: March 29, 2019 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to verify that your Signal contact’s encryption key is secure. You must be in the same physical location as the person you’re verifying, as both users must complete these steps.

Steps

1
Open Signal. It’s the blue-and-white keyhole icon, typically found on your home screen. If you don’t see it there, look in the app drawer.
- The person you’re verifying must also complete these steps on their device.
2
Select a contact to open a chat. You can do this by tapping a conversation in the list, or tap the pencil icon to select a new contact.

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3
Tap ⁝. It’s at the top-right corner of the chat.
4
Tap Conversation settings.
5
Tap Verify safety numbers. Now you will see a QR code, as well as several columns of numbers. These numbers are unique to every conversation you have on Signal.^{[1]
X
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6
Compare the numbers on both devices. The numbers should match exactly.
7
Verify the QR code. Here’s how:
- Tap the QR code on one device. This opens a camera screen.
- Line up the other QR code in the camera screen to snap a photo.
- If a green check mark appears on the device that snapped the photo, the verification was successful.
- If something's wrong with the encryption key, you’ll see a red X. If you see a red X, avoid using Signal to discuss sensitive topics with this person until the problem is resolved.
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