...and they tell all your contacts that you've created an account. super bad.
anyway, I hear they're working on it.
anyway, I hear they're working on it.
To remove that functionality would be equivalent to removing the ability to look up if a Signal message can be sent to a particular number. At least as long as phone numbers are used as the sole identifier for Signal accounts—another decision that has been debated into the ground, of course, but was done for understandable reasons.
that is mostly a UX problem, not a technical problem: people are surprised that signal tells others that they created an account, and this isn't a pleasant surprise IME. doubly so (more, actually) if you've got a stalker who has your phone number.