FILE - This Friday, March 10, 2017, file photo shows the WhatsApp communications app on a smartphone, in New York.
(AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)OAKLAND, Calif. – Encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram are seeing huge upticks in downloads from Apple and Google’s app stores.
Mobile app analytics firm Sensor Tower said Wednesday that Signal saw 17.8 million app downloads on Apple and Google during the week of Jan. 5 to Jan. 12.
WhatsApp, meanwhile, saw downloads shrink to 10.6 million, down from 12.7 million the week before.
In that same period Telegram has seen about 755.2 million installations and WhatsApp a whopping 5.6 billion — almost eight times as many as Telegram.