Yes but do they offer the same experience? Signal figured out that you probably have a list of contacts that you want to talk to. If they use mobile numbers as

Yes but do they offer the same experience? Signal figured out that you probably have a list of contacts that you want to talk to. If they use mobile numbers as identifiers then they don't have to keep the contact list - it's already there on your phone. IMHO it's a good compromise. I'm not an advocate for Signal, but I totally get this approach.