In June, Signal took its most explicitly activist stance yet, rolling out a new feature allowing users to blur people’s faces in photos of crowds. Read more: Young Activists Drive Peaceful Protests Across the U.S. “Signal and other end-to-end encryption technology have become vital tools in protecting organizers and activists.” “We’re seeing a lot more people attending their first actions or protests this year-and one of the first things I tell them to do is download Signal,” says Jacky Brooks, a Chicago-based activist who leads security and safety for Kairos, a group that trains people of color to use digital tools to organize for social change. (The Signal Foundation, the non-profit that runs the app, doesn’t share official download numbers for what it says are privacy reasons.) In Hong Kong they rose by 1,000% over the same period, coinciding with Beijing’s imposition of a controversial national security law. between March and August compared to the prior six months, according to data shared with TIME by the analysis firm App Annie, which tracks information from the Apple and Google app stores. Indeed, just as protests against systemic racism and police brutality intensified this year, downloads of Signal surged across the country.

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