Recommended Messaging Apps
A private messenger keeps your conversations between you and the person you are talking to, not the company in the middle. The bar is end-to-end encryption that is on by default, not buried in a setting. The harder problem is metadata, the record of who you message and when, which is often more revealing than the words. The apps here are judged on how much of that they encrypt, collect, or throw away.
How to choose a messaging app
Strong encryption is close to standard now. The bodies of your messages are usually safe. What separates these apps is the metadata around them, like whether you need a phone number to sign up, whether your contacts are uploaded, and how much of who-talks-to-whom the servers can see. The best are built to hold as little of that as possible.
Here are some things to look for.
- End-to-end encryption by default. On for every chat, not a mode you have to switch on.
- Open source and audited. The code is public and outside experts have reviewed it.
- As little metadata as possible. Little or no record of who you message and when.
- No phone number to sign up. You should not have to hand over a real-world identifier.
- Funded by something other than your data. Donations, grants, or a subscription rather than advertising.
- Runs on more than one device. Desktop and mobile, not just a single phone.
SimpleX Chat
Messaging with no user identifiers at all, not even a random number.
Signal
The mainstream secure messenger, trusted and easy to use.
Session
Onion-routed messaging with no phone number and no central servers.
Element
Open, federated chat on the Matrix network, no phone number needed.
Threema
Paid Swiss messenger with no phone number or email required.
Molly
A hardened fork of Signal for Android, with extra at-rest protection.
Delta Chat
Encrypted chat over ordinary email, with no new account needed.
Ricochet Refresh
Anonymous desktop chat over Tor with no servers or accounts.
bitchat
Bluetooth mesh messaging that works with no internet at all.
Tox
Serverless peer-to-peer messaging with a cryptographic ID.
Jami
Distributed peer-to-peer calls and chat, a GNU project.
Briar
Peer-to-peer messaging over Tor that even works with no internet.
