Got this update message in signal earlier this week. Nice to see them moving in the right direction, but I guess the initial signup still requires a phone number.

"Your phone number will no longer be visible to anyone on the latest version of Signal unless they have it saved in their phone's contacts. You can change this in Settings.

A new privacy setting lets you control who can find you by your phone number on Signal.

You can now set and share an optional username to let people chat with you without giving them your phone number. "