Messaging apps allow us to easily communicate and connect with different people across the globe without the worry of geographical restrictions. While communication has been simplified in ways we couldn’t even imagine a decade ago, the messaging tech evolution also brings its share of challenges. If things aren’t done right to guarantee user privacy, the private messages users send might be seen by the companies behind the applications, third parties and even governmental administrations who gather confidential information on their residents.
Like legitimate Vegas slots online casino websites, the best messaging platforms use multi-layered technologies that guarantee your privacy whenever you are using the service. So, if for example, you enjoy playing Thunderkick games online, it is best to use a licensed and certified online casino site as they use advanced security technologies to keep your data and gaming activity a private affair.
What Makes a Messaging App Secure?
In case you didn’t know, popular messaging apps such as Facebook Messenger, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram are not secure for private personal conversations. Thus, the exchange you have between you and your contacts in the form of text and shared files might not be completely safe.
But if these applications aren’t the most secure for messaging, then which are? And even more important, what makes a messaging application more secure for sending private messages? Let’s start by looking at the key features you should consider when looking for the most secure messaging software.
The first thing you must check before you download a messaging application is to confirm whether it uses end-to-end encryption. End-to-end encryption is a means of building protected messaging apps by encrypting information so that only the sender and recipient of the messages can read them. Thanks to this secure technology, from the time a message is typed, during its transit to the recipient and when it’s received, not a single person, besides you and the person you’re speaking to can read that message.
As we speak, end-to-end encryption is the most secure, most confidential messaging form of guaranteeing privacy for messaging apps. If you come across an application that is not end-to-end encrypted, you should consider it a vulnerable app. Better yet, on top of having direct secure messaging, encryption doesn’t store legible copies of the messages on any other online location such as a server. The only stored version of the messages is in the sender’s and recipient’s devices or encrypted cloud storage, depending on whether the user has enabled such permissions.
Here’s a look at the most secure messaging applications currently available for Android and iOS powered devices.
Who doesn’t know about WhatsApp? Ever since 2016, WhatsApp has supported and executed end-to-end encryption to offer consumers more secure messaging when they are using the service. With over 500 million daily active users, the free communication platform is currently the most popular messaging app. It’s even being integrated into traditional websites through a WhatsApp widget for website owners.
Owing to the cutting-edge encryption used by the messaging app, users not only get to enjoy a communication environment with boost privacy but the messages are also safeguarded against malicious attacks. Of course, security flaws might emerge, but if hackers were to breach WhatsApp today, they wouldn’t manage to decrypt your conversations. That’s because of the foolproof encryption combined with the fact that the platform doesn’t keep your messages on its servers.
Full disclosure, the fact that WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, a company that is notorious for privacy-related misconduct makes it less than ideal for some users. Once bitten, twice shy, right?
Telegram
Like WhatsApp, Telegram too provides end-to-end encryption and is popular for heavily encrypted conversations. Everything from simple texts to group chats and voice calls is protected by end-to-end encryption to ensure that all your communications within the application are completely safe. Further, Telegram comes with an option to enable self-destruct messaging and files like images and videos, where your messages and files are automatically deleted permanently within a given period once they have been sent and received.
Better yet, if you’re looking for a more secure messaging experience, there’s an option to turn on ‘Secret Chats’ from the application’s advanced settings. This will force the application on the receiver’s end of the secret chat to delete messages if you’d like to do so. It’s worth noting that all secret chat communication is device-specific, and the data doesn’t form part of the Telegram cloud. Therefore, all secret chat conversations can only be accessed from the device of origin. So, if you have a secure device, then your secret chats too are definitely safe.
Signal Private Messenger
The free Signal private messenger app is preferred by millions of users thanks to the active privacy-focused technology that it uses. This default privacy-first system ensures that Signal users are never at risk of sending messages or sharing moments to the wrong recipient. Like its counterparts, it offers end-to-end encrypted texting and voice calling for its users for maximum privacy.
For even more security, the app offers users the option to choose disappearing message intervals for every conversation that you might have saved within your chat history. Moreover, some of the features that make Signal much better than the competition is that Signal has no keys to decrypt messages, thus no one, including the company itself, can ever access the content being exchanged amongst its users.
Choose Your Privacy First
There you have it, these are the top-three most secure messaging applications, particularly because of one key factor – end-to-end encryption. If a messaging app doesn’t use such technology to guarantee your privacy, then it is best not to use it unless you aren’t too concerned about your private conversations.
