Delta Chat
Encrypted chat over ordinary email, with no new account needed.
delta.chat- Price
- FreeFree and open source. Uses any IMAP/SMTP email account, including free chatmail relay servers.
- Works on
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS
- Based in
- Germany
- Source code
- Open source
- Encryption
- End-to-end encrypted
Delta Chat is chat that runs on top of email. Rather than building its own network it uses any email account as the pipe. There's no central server, no phone number and no new account to create. It's free and open source, with end-to-end encryption handled by Autocrypt. Recent versions cut down metadata leakage by using dedicated chatmail servers. How private it is depends on what carries it. An old mailbox at a logging provider will leak metadata. The strong guarantees only hold on a modern chatmail server with an up-to-date app.
Strengths
- Uses any email account, no phone number or new account
- No central server, decentralized by design
- Open source, free, on every major platform
Considerations
- Metadata protection depends on using a modern chatmail server
- Security is only as strong as the email accounts behind it
Listed inMessaging
