How to chat and send messages in private

It would be like sending a letter or a parcel, where the post delivery service (or customs) could look inside and see what you sent. Actually several hundred years ago in Denmark, the Kings postman was obligated to open a letter if he believed it held information that was of interest for the kingdoms wellbeing.

Some services actively prevent you from chatting in private – when you agree to Facebook’s (and their products Messenger and What’s App) terms of service, you give Facebook permission to read and reuse any data you transmit over their service. That’d be like the postal workers taking a copy of what you sent, and using it to send you targeting advertising.

Some of the features you should look for is

End-to-end encryption
Chat and send messages to other users or groups in private.
Send files securely.
Make secure voice and video calls or send voice or video messages
Convenience features like emojis, formatting, drawing etc.
Supported platforms and devices

Video reviews of

Privacy comparison of chat and messaging apps

	Signal	Wire	Skype	WhatsApp	Facebook Messenger	SnapChat	Telegram
Encrypted during transmission	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Optional	Yes	Yes
Encrypted so the provider can’t read it	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Optional
Verify contact identities	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Collects and stores metadata	Minimal	Minimal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Encrypts metadata	Yes	Mostly	No	No	No	No	No
Share data with third parties like advertisers.	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Chat history secure if password stolen (not device stolen)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
Stored chat history with the provider or in the cloud	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Open source	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Partial
Peer reviewed	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
Recently audited	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Based in the EU	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No

Note: The data above is primarily based on the individual privacy policies of the companies who provide the programs, with additional information from independent reviews, such as this secure messaging apps comparison and the EFF's scorecard. The data was last checked in February 2018.

Privacy comparison of chat and messaging apps

	Signal	Wire	Skype	WhatsApp	Facebook Messenger	SnapChat	Telegram
Encrypted during transmission	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Optional	Yes	Yes
Encrypted so the provider can’t read it	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Optional
Verify contact identities	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Collects and stores metadata	Minimal	Minimal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Encrypts metadata	Yes	Mostly	No	No	No	No	No
Share data with third parties like advertisers.	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Chat history secure if password stolen (not device stolen)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes
Stored chat history with the provider or in the cloud	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Open source	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Partial
Peer reviewed	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes
Recently audited	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Based in the EU	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No

More sources about private messaging

An explanation of what encrypted messaging is and why you should use it by pixelprivacy.com

By Brian Schildt - Privacy advocate at Findx

Comparison of private search engines

If you want to search in private there is a number of private metasearch and search engines available. But what are the advantages and disadvantages of each one? See the comparison chart and make you choice.

How to keep your searches private

Keep your search and browsing information out of the hands of advertisers – use a private search engine

How do private search engines make money?

If you want to use a private search engine, one of the question that often is askes is “How do they make money?”. There various ways a search engine can keep you privacy and make money. See the comparison chart and learn more about private search engines.