Next to the phone number requirement, the metadata retention is one of the biggest reasons I don't use Signal.
#cososec
https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/1660617576005660672
If you want to try encrypted comms that are doing it right, try SimpleX Chat. A bunch of us here are using it.
@voltronic I've been using Openfire with Pidgin and the OTR plugin with encryption set to mandatory of late.