2022-12-31 Overview of more private messaging
December 30, 2022•910 words
What typically occurs
People end up using specific messaging apps because their friends use those specific apps. While this is certainly the approach of convenience, there can be unintended consequences to this.
The benefits and consequences will be discussed.
Benefit: Familiarity and ease of use
I agree, this is one hard reason to stick with anything. Not even just messaging apps. For example, iPhone vs Android. That switch is a long and painful process for anyone.
But when it does come to messaging apps, how does one convince their contacts, often very close friends and family, to actually make the change to something entirely new? Is it really going to be the promise of data privacy, or maybe it’s about convincing people that there is an even better option than what they’re used to? Or perhaps one should actually do some research on what their audience is going to want in a new app.
Benefit: Extra features
With big companies, for example Facebook (I refuse to use the Meta name), comes big spending, and big marketing when it comes to extra features. How would we live without our thousands of extra sticker catalogs so we can send cute icons to our loved ones?
Of course, however, there are very useful features, such as the integration of mobile payments within apps. I remember trying the Apple Cash system within iMessage, and this worked very well. With something as basic as exchanging money now baked into a messaging app, it can be hard moving to another app that does not have this payment, future, or any other feature that is so valued by any specific user.
Unintended consequence: Lack of verified privacy (open-source, audited, "trusted")
I think all of us, including myself, are guilty of just blindly something to terms and conditions that come with the use of any app. I do remember reading some of them, and the amount of data collection in some absences, atrociously, staggering. I think if anyone really truly sat down to think about what kind of liberties they are giving up in exchange for what seems to be a basic function - messaging - one might actually reconsider switching to messaging app that actually respects privacy.
After all, if there are other messaging apps, that can let you message people without all the data collection, then a more invasive messaging app like Facebook messenger really has no excuse to be collecting so much data.
Unintended consequence: Possible spread of misinformation
do you ever get one of those random posts from your family members about some random news article about something political/controversial? Do you ever wonder if any of those are actually factual? Most of us probably have.
If I recall, it would appear that the more commonly used messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, and the somewhat private messaging app Telegram, are especially prone to these kinds of dissemination of misinformation.
Switching to a less popular messaging app in which there is a lower number of people to spread misinformation to, might help one avoid that behavior.
What messaging apps I ended up using
Signal
This is the best introduction to true open source and audited E2EE messaging. Certainly made the news after WhatsApp changed its privacy policy to attempt to force access to users' contacts. Relatively fast, and has useful features including audio and video calls. Desktop app works very well too. Seems to be adding some new features along the way (though personally I would rather have usernames than Stories - but if Stories makes Signal more popular then yay). Basically a better and much more private Facebook Messenger / WhatsApp.
Threema
As their intro video states, the price of a cup of coffee for a lifetime of E2EE messaging. What a good deal really. All servers under Swiss jurisdiction; and perhaps this is a big selling point for people who truly want to avoid any US-associated servers (eg what Signal uses - though the Signal Protocol makes the server location irrelevant basically...so I digress). UI is cool too, somewhat slower than Signal, but the app continues to improve and it's quite hardcore. Also open source and audited. More or less, a tightened version of Signal.
Session
This is hardcore. So hardcore, that even I rarely ever use it, maybe once a year. Messages are routed between multiple nodes, to make the origin relatively untraceable. E2EE messaging on steroids basically. Admittedly the notification system is somewhat broken, so probably less of a daily driver and more of a "If you feel your life is in danger if you say something controversial, use this app." Open source and audited.
iMessage
The famous "blue bubble." One less app to download, more like "just need to find someone who has an iPhone." Very easy to use. Somewhat slow, doesn't feel like "instant messaging" as much as it feels like text messaging. But that delay makes this quite a classic and simple messaging app. There is E2EE but this cannot be verified without the open source code audit. I trust iMessage more than WhatsApp though.
Somewhat the lesser of two evils when compared to Facebook Messenger. But still not really a preference for me. Certainly popular among work/school group chats though. And depending on where one is in the world, WhatsApp remains popular. There is E2EE but this cannot be verified without the open source code audit.