![]() WhatsApp is used by almost 90% of people in most countries.According to Statista (2019) WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and WeChat, remain the world's most popular messaging apps despite Facebook's questionable privacy practices. Most of the world is using a messaging app owned by Facebook.88% of the US use Facebook Messenger, whereas over half of Latin Americans opt for WhatsApp.In fact, there are only 25 out of 195 countries where WhatsApp isn't the most used messaging app. WeChat is used by the majority of people in China, since apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are banned.In fact, there are only 10 countries in the world where Facebook-owned messaging apps, are not the market leader. While Telegram, known for its tight privacy controls, has struggled to find the same mass appeal – with most of its users being based in the middle east. Security and privacy within messaging apps is becoming more important, with secure chat-apps like Wire, Threema, and Silence, being the latest additions to the market.If security is your first point of call over popularity, then read on. There are many messaging apps on the market, but not all of them are as secure as they say. All of the apps on this list offer end-to-end encryption, which means that no one can see your ‘secret’ conversations unless they have a private key to decrypt your message. Most importantly, that means even the service provider can’t see your messages – not even abusive employees, hackers or government officials. ![]() However, their additional features – and shortcomings – are all different. We reviewed the pros and cons of 7 encrypted messaging apps and ranked them from the least to the most secure. With over 1 billion users, WhatsApp is one of the most widely used messaging apps. It’s easy to use and offers features such as location and file sharing, gifs, and even desktop support. It also uses the powerful encryption protocol developed for Signal by Open Whisper Systems, which is considered the industry standard. The encryption features Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS). This means that even if someone manages to somehow steal the key to your secret conversation, they will only be able to see the last message you’ve sent. On the other hand, WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, which raises huge security concerns. ![]() Can we really trust Facebook, secure encryption notwithstanding? Collecting users’ data is at the center of this social media giant’s business model and it failed to keep user data safe multiple times. Update on May 14, 2019:Hackers recently found a severe WhatsApp vulnerability and used it to install surveillance malware on a selected number of phones. ![]() This spyware was injected through WhatsApp audio calls (the targeted individual didn’t need to answer the call) and gave hackers access to victims’ text messages, emails, WhatsApp messages, contact details, calls record, location, microphone, and camera. We have moved WhatsApp from #4 to #7 as a result. Signal is the overall winner for both iOS and Android users. Signal created an encryption protocol that is now recognized as the most secure messaging app protocol out there. ![]()
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