Welcome!
This site began as a project to document my research into secure instant messaging applications which started in 2018. For almost 3 years I tried over 100 different messaging apps and documented my findings and opinions abut the security, privacy and usability of these apps. I am no longer actively testing these apps but I have left this website up for anyone interested in seeing information about these apps at the time they were reviewed. As time progresses information here may become inaccurate regarding the current state of these apps so only use the information here as a starting point and be sure to verify if anything has changed with the current versions of these apps.
Here is a complete index of all the applications I have reviewed from 2018 to 2020. I have pretty much decided on which are the best options so I don't review new applications much anymore unless I see a really compelling option. As you can see from this list, there are a lot of applications that just are not worth using for various reasons.
Why should I protect my chats?
So you may be wondering "Why do I need to protect my chats?". Well the answer is that information you exchange with others in your chats may have value, contain personal identifying information, or may be private and intended for certain eyes only. Have you ever needed to ask a family member to give you their social security number or a bank account number? That information would be very valuable to someone looking to harvest information for identity theft. Once your identity is stolen it is very stressful and time consuming to repair all the damage.
This is not a matter of hiding anything, you are being proactive about protecting yourself and your identify. Do you lock your car and your house? Why? It is not because you have something to hide (I hope), but because you want to protect your things from being stolen. That is prudent and smart.
How?
How do you protect your chat messages? That is what I will help you to do. There are some very easy things you can do, and you do not need to do everything suggested here. Start with one or two changes, and start to get comfortable with being in the mindset of protecting your information. Any little thing you do will make you more protected than you were before.
Other pages on this website:
EFF Guide Select what features you want to see in a messenger and view the results
App Features Matrix A chart with all the features of reviewed apps, which you can filter
No Trackers! Hall of Fame Kudos to these Android apps which include zero tracking libraries
Other Websites and Resources Links to other recommended reading and privacy oriented websites