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Secure Messaging Apps Ranked

I am aware of the irony of writing this in a proprietary app, but I spent a lot of time looking for something that would give me the same kind of presentation and user control, and short of writing an app from scratch myself, there wasn’t anything.
Corrections, additions, and discussions welcome. Shoot me an email at
jad@mutnt.io
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Color Coding
1
1
Very bad
2
Bad
3
Expected
4
Good
5
Very Good
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Session
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Briar
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Tinfoil Chat
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Conversations/Siskin (XMPP)
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Tox
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Element (Matrix)
❤️❤️❤️
Jami
❤️❤️❤️
Delta Chat
❤️❤️❤️
Threema
❤️❤️
Wire
❤️
Wickr
❤️
Signal
iMessage
🕷️
Telegram
🕷️🕷️
Skype
🕷️🕷️
Zoom
🕷️🕷️
Whatsapp
🕷️🕷️🕷️
Discord
🕷️🕷️🕷️
Slack
🕷️🕷️🕷️
Viber
🕷️🕷️🕷️
Google Hangouts
🕷️🕷️🕷️🕷️
Session
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Session | Send Messages, Not Metadata. | Private Messenger
Session is a private messenger that aims to remove any chance of metadata collection by routing all messages through an onion routing network.
getsession.org
Score
25.5
Last Audit
1000
Privacy Standing
Good
License
GPLv3
Reproducible Builds
Yes
Legal Jurisdiction
Australia
Funding
Transparent
O.S.
Android
IOS
Windows
Linux
OSX
Stores
Play Store
App Store
Own Website
F-Droid
Network
Decentralized
Servers
None
End to End Encryption
All
Encryption
Signal Protocol
TOR
Yes
Phone Number Necessary
No
Contact Verification
Yes (notified if fingerprint changes)
Address Book?
No
Leaks Metadata
No
Local Message Encryption
Yes
Advertising
No
Tracking
No
Device Syncing
Full Sync
Encrypted Storage
Has Encrypted Storage
Storage Location
Local Storage
Automated Backup
No
User Type
Every day user
Features
Voice Messages
Group Chats
File Exchange
Self Destructing Messages
Sins
​
Summary
Operating Systems: Android,IOS,Windows,Linux,OSX
Open Source: GPLv3 reproducible builds (without proprietary libs)
Encryption: E2E (with TOR routing)
Privacy: Contact Fingerprinting, No phone number necessary, no ads, does not need contacts
Infrastructure: Decentralized, None, Australia, Transparent
Notes
F-droid build is available on a separate repo:
https://github.com/oxen-io/session-android/issues/413
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⁠
Session is an interesting messenger that combines the decentralization and resistance against metadata leaks of a peer-to-peer (P2P) messenger, with the usability of a centralized or federated service, allowing messages to be sent to a user who is not online at the time. This is something normally not possible in P2P messengers. The issue with Session is that its protocol is largely un-reviewed by the greater security community, and therefore it is not known to be secure.
Session is also planning to
change their protocol soon
⁠
, which will invalidate any review Session has already received.
ー https://serpentsec.1337.cx/secure-messaging-choosing-a-chat-app
Reviews
​
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Customization

Change the amount of stars below to change the importance of a parameter. Set it to no stars to nullify it.
Stars are multipliers; negative parameters (in red) will stay negative, but will become more negative.
You can see the final score in the rightmost column
If you want to actually change the direction of a parameter from negative to positive, or reduce its base effect, head to
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Advertising
No
0
Yes
-2
Contact Verification
Yes (notified if fingerprint changes)
2
Yes (fingerprint optional)
1
No
-1
Yes (Only in Group Chats)
0
Yes (if previously verified)
0
Device Syncing
Full Sync
0
Manual Sync
0
Unencrypted Chats Only
0
Limited to 8
0
No Sync
-1
Encrypted Storage
Has Encrypted Storage
0
No Encrypted Storage
0
Key with Provider
-1
N/A
0
Only IOS
-1
Encryption Protocol
Bramble
1
OMEMO (Signal Protocol)
1
Signal Protocol
1
RSA-Keys
1
Proprietary, Unknown
-1
MTProto
0
NaCI (no
FPS
⁠
)
1
Proteus (Signal Protocol)
1
OpenPGP (with Autocrypt)
0
OLM/MEGOLM (Signal Protocol)
0
None
-2
XChaCha20-Poly1305
2
End to End Encryption
All
2
Only app users
1
Only PMs
1
None
-1
Features
Voice Messages
0
Audio/Video Chats
0
Group Chats
0
File Exchange
0
Self Destructing Messages
0
Funding
Transparent
0
Partially Transparent
-1
Not transparent
-2
Community Project
2
Hosting Infrastructure
None
2
Distributed
1
Apple
-1
Google
-2
Microsoft
-2
Amazon
-2
Centralized
0
Facebook
-2
Leaks Metadata
No
1
Yes
-1
Partially
0
Legal Juridiction
N/A
1
Depends on Server Location
1
USA
-1
Switzerland
1
Dubai
0
Germany
1
Luxembourg
0
Australia
0
Licenses
GPLv3
0
GPL
0
Proprietary
-2
Apache
0
Client Open Source
-1
Local Message Encryption
Yes
1
No
-1
Needs Contact List
Yes
-1
No
1
Network Structure
Decentralized
2
Federated
1
Centralized
-1
Operating Systems
Android
1
IOS
1
Windows
1
OSX
1
Linux
1
Web
1
Phone Number Necessary
Yes
-1
No
0
Proprietary Libraries
Yes
-1
No
1
Storage Location
No Storage
0
Local Storage
1
Cloud Storage
1
Self Hosting Possible
1
Store
Play Store
0
F-Droid
2
App Store
0
Own Website
1
Tracker
No
1
Optional
-1
Yes
-2
Automated Backups
Yes
-1
Partially
0
No
0
N/A
0
UX
Advanced
-1
Every day user
1
Enthusiast
0
Sins
NSA Partner
-2
Makes money from Personal Data
-2
Bespoke Encryption Algorithm
-2
Company Stance on Customer Privacy
Poor
-1
Abysmal
-2
Good
0
Reproducible Builds
Yes
1
No
-2
Onion Routing
Yes
2
No
0
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