Our verification methodology: how every fact on this site gets checked

An APK guide lives or dies on accuracy. A wrong version number sends someone to a dead link. A wrong fingerprint can send someone to malware. So this site runs every factual claim through the same checks, the same way, every time. This page documents exactly what those checks are, where the information comes from, and how often we repeat them. Nothing here is a slogan. It is the actual procedure we follow.

How we check the Signal version

The current version number on our download and version pages is never copied from a blog, an app store, or memory. It comes from two of Signal's own sources, checked together:

1. Signal's own download page

   We open signal.org/android/apk in a browser and read the version number printed there.

2. Signal's update endpoint

   We fetch https://updates.signal.org/android/latest.json, Signal's own update endpoint for the website build, and compare the version it reports against the download page.

If the two agree and match what our pages say, nothing changes. We do not bump dates to look fresh. If Signal has published a new build, we run our written version-watch procedure: update the version pages, re-verify the fingerprint, and move dates only where the content actually changed.

We only publish version numbers we have seen on Signal's own pages ourselves. At the time of writing (October 8, 2026), the current website build is 8.29.3, confirmed on both sources.

How we check the SHA-256 fingerprint

The SHA-256 fingerprint of Signal's signing certificate is the one fact on this site where a mistake would be dangerous, so it gets the strictest rule:

• We read the fingerprint on Signal's own download page, with our own eyes. Never from a mirror, a blog, an app store, or a Telegram channel.
• We re-check it on every version check. Our written procedure runs these checks every Monday morning, plus a same-day check whenever a release is reported anywhere.
• The most recent re-verification: October 7, 2026.

One deliberate split in policy. Our fingerprint-verification guides quote the value so readers can compare it character by character against their own file, because a teaching guide needs the value to teach with. Our download and version pages never print it. They point readers to Signal's page instead, so there is no second copy of a critical value that could drift out of date.

Our version-watch procedure

We keep a written checklist for new Signal releases, and we follow it in order. In plain English, it says:

1. Detect

   Check Signal's download page and the update endpoint together. Two version numbers written down, old and new, before anything is touched.

2. Re-verify the fingerprint

   Confirm the fingerprint is still printed on Signal's page, and confirm our guides still point readers to the right place.

3. Classify

   Label the release major or minor, in writing. The label decides which pages get a new date.

4. Update the version pages

   Version numbers, titles, meta descriptions, structured data, and file names all move together. The old version goes into the version-history record. Nothing is deleted from history.

5. Move dates honestly

   Published dates never change. An Updated date moves only where the content substantially changed. A number-only refresh does not move a date. Sitemap dates move only on pages we actually changed.

Two hard rules guard the whole thing. Archived version pages are permanent history: never redirected, never merged, never pointed at newer pages. And no artificial freshness: if a date moved, it must point to a real change, or it does not move.

Our correction policy

If we get something wrong, we fix the page the day we catch it, and we say so on the page in a visible note. We do not silently rewrite history. Readers who report errors through our contact page get a reply confirming the fix.

This is not a hypothetical. It has happened, and the note is still on the page:

What we never do

• Never host APK files. Every download link on this site goes to signal.org/android/apk. There is nothing on our servers that could be tampered with, outdated, or mislabeled.
• Never claim to be official. We are an independent guide with no relationship to the Signal Foundation. The only official things here are Signal's own pages, which we link to.
• Never publish a version we have not seen ourselves on Signal's own pages. Rumors and version noise stay off the site.
• Never move a date to look fresh. Dates change only when content changed. A stale-looking page that is still accurate is better than a fresh-looking page that lies.
• Never take facts from mirrors, forums, or memory when an official source exists. If a value cannot be confirmed, we say so instead of inventing one.

The sources we trust

A short list. Anything not on it is not a source for facts:

• signal.org/android/apk, the official download page. This is where the version number, the APK file, and the SHA-256 fingerprint of the signing certificate live.
• support.signal.org, Signal's official support articles, used for how-to facts.
• https://updates.signal.org/android/latest.json, Signal's own update endpoint, cross-checked against the download page on every version check.

Found a mistake?

Tell us. Error reports go to our contact page, and you will get a reply confirming the fix. The correction note above is what that process looks like from the reader's side.

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