privacyguides.org/_includes/sections/instant-messenger.html

<h1 id="im" class="anchor"><a href="#im"><i class="fas fa-link anchor-icon"></i></a> Encrypted Instant Messenger</h1>

<div class="alert alert-warning" role="alert">
  <strong>If you are currently using an Instant Messenger like Telegram, LINE, Viber, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/where-whatsapp-went-wrong-effs-four-biggest-security-concerns">WhatsApp</a>, or plain SMS you should pick an alternative here.</strong>
</div>


{% include cardv2.html
title="Signal"
image="/assets/img/tools/Signal.png"
description="Signal is a mobile app developed by Open Whisper Systems. The app provides instant messaging, as well as voice and video calling.
All communications are end-to-end encrypted. Signal is free and open source."
labels="success:VoIP"
website="https://signal.org/"
forum="https://forum.privacytools.io/t/discussion-signal/664"
github="https://github.com/signalapp"
windows="https://signal.org/download/"
mac="https://signal.org/download/"
linux="https://signal.org/download/"
googleplay="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.thoughtcrime.securesms"
android="https://signal.org/android/apk/#apk-danger"
ios="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/signal-private-messenger/id874139669"
%}


{% include cardv2.html
title="Wire"
image="/assets/img/tools/wire.png"
description="A free software End-to-End Encrypted chatting application that supports instant messaging, voice, and video calls. Full source code is available."
labels="warning:<a href=//www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvzw5x/secure-messaging-app-wire-stores-everyone-youve-ever-contacted-in-plain-text>Warning</a>:Wire stores some plaintext metadata about its users on their servers. This data includes profile names, profile pictures, usernames, and users' lists of connections and conversations.|success:VoIP"
website="https://wire.com/"
forum="https://forum.privacytools.io/t/discussion-wire/750"
github="https://github.com/wireapp/"
windows="https://wire.com/en/download"
mac="https://wire.com/en/download"
linux="https://wire.com/en/download"
googleplay="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wire"
android="https://wire.com/en/download"
ios="https://itunes.apple.com/app/wire/id930944768?mt=8"
web="https://app.wire.com"
%}

<h3>Complete Comparison</h3>
<ul>
	<li><a href="https://securechatguide.org/effguide.html">securechatguide.org</a> - Guide to Choosing a Messenger.</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.securemessagingapps.com/">securemessagingapps.com</a> - Secure Messaging Apps Comparison.</li>
  <li><a href="https://www.thinkprivacy.io/messengers.html">thinkprivacy.io</a> - Simple Secure Messaging Apps Comparison.</li>
</ul>


<h3>Worth Mentioning</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="https://briarproject.org/">Briar</a> - An ultra-secure peer-to-peer instant messenger that connects to contacts via Direct Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Tor over the internet, keeping its users protected from surveillance and censorship.</li>
  <li><a href="https://about.riot.im/">Riot</a> - An open-source, federated messenger that utilizes the Matrix protocol. This application is primarily recommended as a large group/team chat solution. While Riot has the ability to perform 1-on-1 communications we believe there are better solutions for direct communications.</li>
  <li><a href="https://retroshare.cc/">RetroShare</a> - An E2E encrypted instant messaging and voice/video call client. RetroShare supports both TOR and I2P. </li>
  <li><a href="https://xmpp.org/">XMPP</a> - Federated instant messaging protocol with <a href="https://conversations.im/omemo/">OMEMO</a>, OTR, or OpenPGP end-to-end encryption:</li>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="https://conversations.im/">Conversations</a> (Android) - An open source Jabber/XMPP client for Android 4.4+ smartphones. <span class="badge badge-success">OMEMO</span></li>
    <li><a href="https://gajim.org/">Gajim</a> (FreeBSD, Linux, Windows) - An open source fully featured XMPP client. <span class="badge badge-success">OMEMO</span></li>
    <li><a href="https://monal.im/">Monal</a> (iOS, MacOS) - An XMPP client in active development. <span class="badge badge-success">OMEMO</span> <span class="badge badge-success">VoIP</span></li>
    <li><a href="https://omemo.top/">Other OMEMO ready clients</a>.</li>
  </ul>
  <li><a href="https://www.kontalk.org/">Kontalk</a> - A community-driven instant messaging network. Supports end-to-end encryption. Both client-to-server and server-to-server channels are fully encrypted.</li>
  <li><a href="https://keybase.io/">Keybase</a> - <span class="badge badge-warning" data-toggle="tooltip" title="This software relies on a closed-source central server.">Warning</span> End-to-end encrypted messaging with social verification.</li>
  <li><a href="https://status.im/">Status</a> - <span class="badge badge-warning">Experimental</span> A free and open-source, peer-to-peer, encrypted instant messanger with support for DAPPs.</li>
  <li> <a href="https://tox.chat/">Tox</a> - <span class="badge badge-warning">Experimental</span> A free and open-source, peer-to-peer, encrypted instant messaging and video calling software. <span class="badge badge-success">VoIP</span></li>
  <li><a href="https://jami.net/">Jami (formerly Ring/SFLphone)</a> - Gives you full control over your communications and an unmatched level of privacy. Jami has <em>text messaging, video and audio calls, file transfer, video conferencing</em>. <span class="badge badge-success">VoIP</span></li>
</ul>


<h3>Related Information</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/14/communicating-secret-watched/">Chatting in Secret While We're All Being Watched - firstlook.org</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://signal.org/android/apk/">Advanced users with special needs can download the Signal APK directly. Most users should not do this under normal circumstances.</a></li>
  <li>Independent security audits</li>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/1013.pdf">A Formal Security Analysis of the Signal Messaging Protocol (2019)</a> by Katriel Cohn-Gordon, Cas Cremers, Benjamin Dowling, Luke Garratt and Douglas Stebila</li>
    <li><a href="https://wire.com/en/security/#audits">Independent security audits</a> on Wire's website</li>
    <li><a href="https://keybase.io/docs-assets/blog/NCC_Group_Keybase_KB2018_Public_Report_2019-02-27_v1.3.pdf">Keybase's Protocol Security Review (2019)</a> by <a href="https://www.nccgroup.trust/">NCC Group</a></li>
  </ul>
</ul>