Benjamin Levicek Especially in the time of the coronavirus, our lives have largely moved to a virtual environment, where we try to communicate in some way despite the impossibility of meeting a large number of people. There are a plethora of more or less secure chat applications for this, the most used of which fall under the wings of the giant called Facebook. However, many of us know how Facebook handles user data. A few days ago, among other things, there was news that WhatsApp should connect even more with Facebook, which caused a huge wave of hatred, precisely because of the bad handling of data. Many individuals who considered WhatsApp to be completely secure and encrypted have thus started looking for an alternative. In this article, we will look at three functionally similar alternatives, which additionally offer much better control over privacy and a smaller amount of collected data as a benefit.
It could be interest you
Pavel Jelic Signal
If your most used communicator is WhatsApp and you don't want to get used to different controls, you will be satisfied after installing the Signal application. In order to sign up, Signal needs your phone number to receive a confirmation code. Signal encrypts messages, so application developers cannot access them. There is the ability to make audio and video calls, send multimedia, disappearing messages and much more - all in complete privacy. Another plus point that Signal will win you over is the ability to use it as a chat application for your computer. Personally, I think that this is a more than successful alternative to WhatsApp.
Threema
This software boasts about the highest emphasis on security that you could find in applications of its kind. You don't need to enter either a phone number or an e-mail address here, and contacts can be added using a QR code. Of course, the developers thought of encrypting the messages, which will ensure that they have no way to get to them in any way. However, this does not mean that Threema emphasizes only security and is otherwise not comfortable to use. Both video calls and voice calls or sending media are a matter of course, and compared to the commonly used '"cheats" it practically does not fall behind in anything. The software can also be used on your computer, both Windows and macOS. The only thing that could deter potential users is the price. It costs CZK 79 in the App Store at the time of writing.
You can buy the Threema app here
Viber
Personally, I don't think I need to introduce this service at length to anyone. Although this service is not in the limelight in terms of the number of users, it is still one of the most affordable software that encrypts messages so that no one but you and the recipient can read them. Registration takes place, similarly to Signal or WhatsApp, via a phone number. One of the interesting features that may please many users is Viber Out, thanks to which you can make phone calls from all over the world at discounted prices after topping up your credit. Again, this is an interesting software that will surely please many users.
Gallery
It wouldn't hurt at all to write about one of Viber's super advantages, which is that you can use it to get a local number for a foreign number...
What can it be used for?
Viber for sure, I like it better than CIA Whats spy anyway.
Threema is one of the most secure
Viber. It works great, more features than WA and especially a native app for everything from PC, Mac, phone and iPad with full sync.
I agree with Threema, in my opinion also the best choice in terms of security, it is also used by large corporations and they take much more care of data protection there. On the contrary, I don't understand the hype about Telegram. If you read their "Privacy policy", in point 5.2 they clearly mention that they collect Metadata, i.e. IP addresses, names, phone number, timestamps and especially at the end they have written etc., so that is very funny, because according to it could be a lot of other things. In addition, Telegram uses proprietary encryption, and no cryptographer or IT expert will recommend such an application to you when there are proven, tested, and most importantly certified open source encryption tools on the market and they make their own on their knees.
And that's why you like Threema, which until recently was completely closed.
If you want something safe then Signal.
If it also depends on you not registering via phone number, then something based on the Matrix protocol.
Well, Threema definitely not!
Yes, as you write in your post, it WAS closed. It is now open source.
But otherwise I agree, Signal is a very good choice in terms of encryption and security.
Who cares, a nice comparison of different tools from a security perspective:
https://www.securemessagingapps.com/