Signal start poll, step by step: from the group chat to Send

Creating a poll through the attachment icon or the plus button

Signal's support article and Signal's blog describe the same job in different words. The support article says to open the group chat, tap the attachment icon and select Poll from the menu. The blog says to tap the + button when composing a message to a group chat.

Both start in the compose area of a group chat, and neither page used here names a separate route for a one-to-one chat. The pages do not say which icon a given phone or computer shows, so the entry to look for in the menu is the one the support article names: Poll.

Plans for a feature that will allow users in a group chat to poll

Signal has already shipped polls, so a plan for that feature is no longer the open question. Signal's blog announced polls as available in the latest versions of Signal for Android, Desktop and iOS, and described the release as rolling out at the time of the post.

What both pages document is a creator's path and a voter's choice: open a group chat, tap the attachment icon or the + button, select Poll and tap Send. They do not say who in a group can start a poll, so this guide does not either.

Whether Signal plans more poll features is a separate question, and neither page answers it.

When a poll result gets challenged

A poll in a Signal group chat is a message the group answers, and nothing in Signal's install, registration or poll pages turns it into a contest with rules of its own. Disqualification is therefore the organiser's call: the pages used here describe creating a poll and sending it, and they do not describe removing votes or disqualifying a participant.

Fake votes are the other objection. The pages explain the account chain, a phone number and then an SMS verification code, and say nothing about how a padded count would be caught, so this guide makes no claim about detection in either direction. What the pages document is narrower: every account starts with a phone number, and a poll lives inside one group chat.

How to do it

1. 1

   Open the group chat

   Open the Signal group chat where the poll should appear. Both Signal pages used for this guide start there: the support article says to open the group chat where you want to create a poll, and the blog describes creating polls in group chats.

2. 2

   Open the poll menu from the attachment icon

   Tap the attachment icon and select Poll from the menu, as Signal's support article puts it. Signal's blog describes the start in other words: tap the + button when composing a message to a group chat.

3. 3

   Enter your question

   Type the question the group is answering into the poll form. Signal's support article puts the question first and the answer options after it, so the wording of the question is the first thing the group reads.

4. 4

   Create up to 10 answer options

   Add the answer options, up to 10 in all, and arrange them in any order you prefer. Signal's support article sets the ceiling at 10 options and leaves the order to the person who creates the poll.

5. 5

   Decide whether to allow multiple votes

   Choose whether to allow multiple votes. Signal's blog describes the same choice as deciding whether people can vote for multiple options in your poll or just one, so the setting belongs to the creator.

6. 6

   Tap Send to post the poll

   Tap Send to post the poll in the chat, as Signal's support article says. Everything the poll will show was entered in the steps before this one: the question, up to 10 answer options, their order and the multiple-votes choice.

Where these facts come from

1. support.signal.org. support.signal.org/hc/en-us/sections/5592577537050-Getting-Started-with-Signal-Android-iOS-or-Desktop.
2. support.signal.org. support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/9971667844506-Signal-Polls.
3. support.signal.org. support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/9971667844506-Signal-Polls.
4. signal.org. signal.org/blog/polls/.
5. signal.org. signal.org/blog/polls/.