Messaging

Messengers are synchronous communications clients that work much like the IM chat applications of past decades. These send out messages that are different from the SMS text messages that you send to someone else's phone number, but they more or less work the same way. Those who carefully choose an application with security in mind can actually get a far more private experience than they'd have with most other types of digital communication, specially if they use one of the best privacy phone, the most secure smartphone, an encrypted phone, or an untraceable phone.

Choosing a messaging app is usually as easy as picking the same one that everyone else you know is using, but this isn't exactly the best way to get a secure one. You'll want to take a look at all of the following options if you're picking a messaging program from a security point of view.

WhatsApp

Probably one of the most popular instant messaging clients at the moment, WhatsApp says it encrypts data before sending it. This greatly reduces the risk of someone spying on a message you send to another party, but we don't know if WhatsApp has a master key that allows them to decrypt messages if they want to. The fact that WhatsApp is part of the Meta family, which is trying to implement the Metaverse and which also owns the Facebook and Instagram applications, makes us feel uncomfortable because technically all its apps are subject to the same privacy policy. Not to mention that the Meta business model is based on data sales. You can use the best privacy phone, the most secure smartphone, it would not save you from yourself, for this you will have to use an encrypted phone, or an untraceable phone.

Telegram

Telegram has found a home on some of the best privacy phone and the most secure smartphone. It combines end-to-end encryption with distributed data centers, which means it can generally provide a high degree of privacy while helping to avoid censorship policies. While it's not entirely open source, many of its related packages are, so you can be reasonably sure that anything you send through it will remain safe from prying eyes. Advanced users can create their own secure chat rooms within the application so they can communicate with multiple people simultaneously. The app is not without its flaws, such as having to give out your phone number to use it, for example.

Signal

By combining a robust open source platform with a somewhat proprietary server structure, Signal is user-friendly and relatively private. While it can't do the same things as a truly decentralized app, it manages to lock down encrypted phone transmissions without forcing its users to dive into a lot of technical manuals. Those who want to send in-app payments to other users can do so through a built-in cryptocurrency wallet. A timer can be associated with particularly sensitive information. Once the timer expires, the message is deleted from all devices on which it was posted, but most messengers now offer this as well. One of the problems with Signal is that it still uses the google service for its push notifications.

Open Source Messaging Clients

One of the well known open source alternatives is Nextcloud Talk, its strength lies mainly in the fact that you can store it on your server and make encrypted audio/video calls in peer to peer mode.

Another alternative could be Jitsi Meet, an open source, encrypted video conferencing solution that you can use for free without needing an account.

Of course there are others that will best serve your needs. In any case, don't forget to use the best privacy phone, the most secure smartphone, an encrypted phone, or an untraceable phone.