Nope, they still require a number.

From their site:

Requiring phone numbers in Signal lets people see which of their friends they can easily talk to on Signal while limiting the potential for spam within the app.

There are options to spoof a number in the States, and probably some areas of th EU, but many other places are SOL.

I came across bangle.js 2 when searching for PineTime info. Same idea, but more expensive (~twice the price for me in Canada), a little better hardware, and supposedly a larger developer/userbase.

I don’t know too much about it; curious if folks here have opinions.