[[{“value”:”
Most messaging apps will promise you the moon in terms of security and privacy, but the fact remains that they have your email, your identity and even your phone number.
We seem to have no choice but to trust what they are saying as gospel truth and hope they have our best interests at heart. Unfortunately, almost every messaging service out there is there to make money, so I hate to break it to you, that means they are not giving you these services for free. So are there options where you can claim complete anonymity? Surprisingly there are a few gems.
Session
Session is an open source, end-to-end encrypted messaging app that is focused on confidentiality and anonymity unlike mainstream apps like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram it doesn’t need a phone number, email ID, or any ID for that matter. When you create an account, a random 66-character alphanumeric ID is created and for all purposes this is your chat ID. It supports one-to-one and group messaging with support for multimedia files. It is also super easy to install and is available on almost all platforms. Getting an ID is effortless, just go to the website and download the software and you will get an ID. The drawback is that if your ID is ever leaked it would be a problem to recover or secure as there is no 2FA. However, if you are careful with your ID, this program offers the most anonymity.
Get it here: https://getsession.org/
SimpleX Chat
SimpleX uses no identifiers at all, not even random IDs like Session. Instead it uses temporary pairwise anonymous identifiers which are specific to each connection. A temporary pairwise anonymous identifier is a short-lived, random “name tag” used only between you and one specific contact. It’s deleted when the chat ends or the contact is removed. You get a unique tag for each person you talk to and they can’t be linked. This means even if someone learns your ID in one chat, they can’t trace it to other conversations, making it much harder to track or link your activities. Your chat data is stored locally and you can run it via encrypted Internet for more privacy. While this is a great option, it’s more of a nuclear option because it kills a lot of the social features. It is also not as simple to setup as Session, not to mention the project is still a work in progress and the UI and features are not very polished.
Get it here: https://simplex.chat/
Briar
Censorship-resistant, peer-to-peer mobile mesh messaging app, Briar can work without central servers and even without Internet in particular scenarios. The application was developed with activists, journalists and others in high threat scenarios. It supports communication over Bluetooth Wi-Fi and the Tor networks. Making your messages inaccessible to everyone, your history is stored only on your device and not on any server or cloud service online. It supports both private messages and group chats. It can be installed via Google Play Store but unfortunately, there is no iOS native app and desktop PC installation is a bit more tricky and needs advanced knowledge especially for Windows and Mac users. Like any good privacy app, the project is completely open source so if you can check the code for backdoors and other security risks.
Get it here: https://briarproject.org/
Overall Winner
Session
Here is why we chose Session. While it may not have all the features of commercial apps like Whatsapp, Telegram or Signal, it is super simple to use and install. It has absolute privacy and anonymity while letting you choose who you connect to. The drawbacks, while significant, can be mitigated by protecting your data properly. So that means as long as your ID is secure, your connections are secure too. Also, it’s worth noting that the data is stored locally, so you are safe even if your ID is lost or leaked.
“}]]
