Signal vs Messenger: Unbelievable amount of data Facebook collects will startle you

For years now, Facebook has been ridiculed and criticized for the data it collects on users. The lack of accountability and scandals involving the social networking giant has outlined the dark side of Facebook and Co. Now, with the renewed attempt to gobble more data, Facebook will have access to WhatsApp's data as well and there's nothing users can do about it.

This has outraged millions of users, especially privacy advocates. As a way to show their disapproval of WhatsApp's decision to share user data with Facebook, many users are flocking to alternatives – ones that do not enforce intrusive data privacy policies. One app in particular that has benefitted from the WhatsApp's privacy debacle is Signal, which has witnessed a sharp spike in the number of users. The sheer volume of the number of users joining Signal caused verification codes to get delayed across several providers. That's fixed now.

Amid privacy row, WhatsApp and Facebook's own Messenger app came under heavy fire for the sheer amount of user information and data it collects as compared to other rival apps.

Apple recently started displaying privacy labels on App Store, a move heavily criticized by Facebook. But those labels have now given a reality check of just how much data Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp gather as compared to rivals such as iMessage and Signal.

Forbes compared Signal, iMessage, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger for the data they collect on users. Facebook Messenger leads the chart and it's startling just how much data is linked to you. Below is the data linked to you on individual apps:

Facebook Messenger

• Purchase History
• Other Financial Info
• Precise Location
• Coarse Location
• Physical Address
• Email Address
• Name
• Phone Number
• Other User Contact Info
• Contacts
• Photos or Videos
• Gameplay Content
• Other User Content
• Search History
• Browsing History
• User ID
• Device ID
• Product Interaction
• Advertising Data
• Other Usage Data
• Crash Data
• Performance Data
• Other Diagnostic Data
• Other Data Types
• Browsing History
• Health
• Fitness
• Payment Info
• Photos or Videos
• Audio Data
• Gameplay Content
• Customer Support
• Other User Content
• Search History
• Sensitive Info
• iMessage
• Email address
• Phone number Search history
• Device ID

WhatsApp

• Device ID
• User ID
• Advertising Data
• Purchase History
• Coarse Location
• Phone Number
• Email Address
• Contacts
• Product Interaction
• Crash Data
• Performance Data
• Other Diagnostic Data
• Payment Info
• Customer Support
• Product Interaction
• Other User Content

iMessage

• Email address
• Phone number
• Search history
• Device ID

Telegram

• Contact Info
• Contacts
• User ID

Signal

None. (The only personal data Signal stores is your phone number, and it makes no attempt to link that to your identity.)