SEVEN MOST SECURED MESSAGING APP

few days ago the news of German's spying on Nigeria media and revelations about mass NSA surveillance, combined with the fact that the UK government is now requiring ISP's to record all internet traffic with the infamous snooper’s charter, has made privacy a very precious commodity. The truth is, we live in an age of internet surveillance and data logging, where companies do almost anything to get our personal information. Thankfully, there has been a rise in secure messaging apps, which focus on keeping our privacy intact through end-to-end encryption and other ways.

check out this 7 most secured messaging app to use to keep save online and add yours to the list

1. Threema

Threema is one of the most popular secure messaging apps available today and deservedly so. It does what it’s supposed to do, that is keeping data out of Governments, corporations and hackers hands.

 threema brings end-to-end encryptions of messages, group chats, media shared and even statuses.The developers have also made sure that your privacy remains intact no matter what, as it deletes any messages on the server once they are delivered while other details like groups & contacts are stored on device’s local storage. 

To use Threema, you don’t need an email id or phone number and the app provides you a unique Threema ID. Along with the security features, Threema is a comprehensive messaging app, thanks to some really unique features like poll, ability to send most file types (pdf, gif, doc, mp3, zip etc..) along with the usual features like sending texts, voice messages.

2.Signal

Signal Private Messenger was released earlier this year and it brought functionality from the two older Open Whisper Systems apps, TextSecure and RedPhone. Along with Threema, Signal is one of the most downloaded secure messaging apps and it too deserves all the attention.

The app is automatically in sync with your address book and this makes it really easy to encrypt your communication with all your contacts. In this way, you do not need unique login credentials for accessing the app and initializing its effectiveness. Among its features, you get cool archiving options for better organizing everything on your phone.

If you check their official website, you will see Edward Snowden and his testimonial: “Use anything by Open Whisper Systems” and this definitely shows something! It is also worth noting that there are no logs kept and the company does not have access to your communication.

3. WhatsApp

In April last year, WhatsApp enabled end-to-end encryption across all platforms, meaning conversations can't be read by anyone but you and the person you're messaging. Not only are your chats protected, but WhatsApp provides a security code so you can verify that someone isn't intercepting your messages and passing them on (this is called a ‘man-in-the-middle’ attack). 

At this point, you might recall earlier this month there was a warning about a vulnerability in WhatsApp’s secure messages, but this was later proven to be false.

WhatsApp is available for both Android and iOS – you'll need to have a verifiable mobile phone number to register initially (it’s also available for desktop computers).

4. Cyber Dust

Cyber Dust is a cool secure messaging app, which along with security & privacy brings features that are pretty sleek. It likes to call its messages Dust and broadcast messages Blast.

All the Dusts and Blasts are heavily encrypted and are never stored in a permanent storage. The app along with others on this list prevent screenshots as well. The messages disappear within 100 seconds or in 24 hours, if it remains unopened by the recipient. 

Every Cyber Dust message is encrypted with its own unique 128-bit AES encryption along with added security through RSA 2048-bit key. Cyber Dust is a social media platform as well as being a secure messaging app, as it lets you follow people.

5. Facebook Messenger

Like WhatsApp – unsurprisingly – Facebook uses the Signal protocol to employ end-to-end encryption with its optional ‘secret conversations’ feature in Messenger. Open Whisper Systems has confirmed this was all implemented correctly.

After starting a secret conversation you can send any content you would in a regular message such as text, a photo or video. Group messaging isn't supported.

You can set messages to disappear. However, if someone reports your conversation it'll be decrypted and sent to Facebook. Messenger is out for Android and iOS, but the source code isn't available so there's no way to check for vulnerabilities or intentionally installed backdoors.

6. Wickr Me

Wickr is available for both Android and iOS. Not only does it feature end-to-end encryption but it can strip out metadata such as the timestamp from conversations. Messages can also be programmed to self-destruct after a certain period of time has expired. The app includes a handy wipe feature to securely erase messages.

Although several security organisations have audited Wickr Me's code, it hasn't been released publicly so there's no way to check it for security bugs or deliberate backdoors. It’s also not very clear how effectively the app can delete data, so Android users should be sure to encrypt their device, too.

7. FrozenChat

Aside from its cool name and funky design, FrozenChat also offers end-to-end encryption with OTR (Off the Record) messaging. This means that not only are your messages protected and you can verify who you're speaking to, but you also have deniability – anyone can forge a message after the conversation is over. In other words, it's impossible to prove any message was sent by you. 

FrozenChat is open source and also supports the open XMPP protocol which is used on thousands of servers. These are run by volunteers so there's no one central server that can be seized or taken down. Sadly, FrozenChat is only available for Android.