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iMessage Alternatives

Fine between iPhones, but green-bubble texts fall back to plain SMS, and it locks you to Apple. A cross-platform encrypted app frees you.

Here are the recommended messaging apps we recommend in its place.

SimpleX Chat

Messaging with no user identifiers at all, not even a random number.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSUnited Kingdom

Signal

The mainstream secure messenger, trusted and easy to use.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSUnited States

Session

Onion-routed messaging with no phone number and no central servers.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSSwitzerland

Element

Open, federated chat on the Matrix network, no phone number needed.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSWebUnited Kingdom

Threema

Paid Swiss messenger with no phone number or email required.

PaidOpen SourceE2E EncryptedAccepts CryptoWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSWebSwitzerland

Molly

A hardened fork of Signal for Android, with extra at-rest protection.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedAndroid

Delta Chat

Encrypted chat over ordinary email, with no new account needed.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSGermany

Ricochet Refresh

Anonymous desktop chat over Tor with no servers or accounts.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinux

bitchat

Bluetooth mesh messaging that works with no internet at all.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedAndroidiOSDecentralized

Tox

Serverless peer-to-peer messaging with a cryptographic ID.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroid

Jami

Distributed peer-to-peer calls and chat, a GNU project.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidiOSWebCanada

Briar

Peer-to-peer messaging over Tor that even works with no internet.

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroid

Cwtch

Metadata-resistant messenger over Tor

FreeOpen SourceE2E EncryptedWindowsmacOSLinuxAndroidCanada