Signal multiple phones one account is now an official setup option: users can link an additional iPhone or Android phone to their primary Signal device instead of registering that second phone as a separate account. The change lets people send and receive messages from the same account across linked devices, according to Signal’s support documentation.
The distinction matters because Signal still permits an account to be registered on only one mobile device at a time. A second phone is a linked device, not another primary registration. Registering an account on a new phone moves the active account there; Signal says an account transfer moves data to the new device and deletes it from the old one. Linking is the route for using the same account on more than one device.
The Verge reported on August 4 that the feature was rolling out in Signal 8.20 for Android and 8.22 for iPhone and iPad. Signal’s own linked-devices documentation lists desktops, iPads, iPhones, and Android phones or tablets as supported secondary devices.
How do I link a second phone to my Signal account?
Install Signal, or reinstall it, on the phone that will become the secondary device. During the registration flow, choose the option to link the device. Signal says linking is available only during that first-install or reinstall flow, so this is not a setting buried in a finished setup.
On the primary phone, open Signal Settings, then Linked devices, then Link a new device. Authenticate using the phone’s biometrics or device-unlock code, scan the QR code shown on the second phone, and choose whether to transfer message history.
At setup, users may synchronize their chats and the previous 45 days of media from the mobile phone, or decline that transfer. Signal says communications on linked devices remain private, and the history copy transferred to a newly linked device is end-to-end encrypted. For a plain-language account of what that encryption does, read how encryption works.
The history decision has an annoying but clear consequence: if a user selects “Don’t Transfer” and later wants prior chats on that device, Signal says the app must be reinstalled there and linked again with transfer selected.
What are Signal’s linked-device limits?
- An account can have up to five linked devices.
- The primary phone must connect to Signal at least once every 30 days or linked devices are unlinked.
- A linked device is also unlinked after 45 days without activity.
- Once unlinked, a device can only be linked again using the primary registered device.
Messages can still arrive when a linked device is offline. Signal says each linked device maintains its own temporary delivery queue for end-to-end encrypted messages and processes disappearing messages independently. The service is not told whether a queued message is set to disappear, according to Signal’s support documentation.
Users can review the linked-device list at any time in Settings under Linked devices and remove devices they no longer control. Signal’s troubleshooting page contains a documentation mismatch: its opening list of secondary devices omits iPhone, while its iOS guidance says an iPhone can be linked. The dedicated linked-devices instructions explicitly include iPhone and provide the QR-code setup steps.
This story draws on original reporting from The Verge.
