privacyguides.org/_includes/sections/instant-messenger.html

<h1 id="im" class="anchor"><a href="#im"><i class="fas fa-link anchor-icon"></i></a> Encrypted Instant Messenger</h1>

<div class="alert alert-warning" role="alert">
  <strong>If you are currently using an Instant Messenger like LINE, Telegram, Viber, <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/10/where-whatsapp-went-wrong-effs-four-biggest-security-concerns">WhatsApp</a>, or plain SMS messages you should pick an alternative here.</strong>
</div>


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title="Signal"
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description="Signal is a mobile app developed by Open Whisper Systems. The app provides instant messaging, as well as voice and video calling.
All communications are end-to-end encrypted. Signal is free and open source."
website="https://signal.org/"
forum="https://forum.privacytools.io/t/discussion-signal/664"
github="https://github.com/signalapp"
android=""
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{% include cardv2.html
title="Wire"
image="/assets/img/tools/wire.png"
description='A free software End-to-End Encrypted chatting application that supports instant messaging, voice, and video calls. Full source code is available. <span class="badge badge-warning" data-toggle="tooltip" title="Wire stores metadata such as list of your connections/conversations in plaintext (= not encrypted)."><a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gvzw5x/secure-messaging-app-wire-stores-everyone-youve-ever-contacted-in-plain-text">Warning</a></span>'
website="https://wire.com/"
forum="https://forum.privacytools.io/t/discussion-wire/750"
github="https://github.com/wireapp/"
android=""
ios=""
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%}

<h3>Complete Comparison</h3>
<ul>
	<li><a href="https://securechatguide.org/effguide.html">securechatguide.org</a> - Guide to Choosing a Messenger.</li>
	<li><a href="https://www.securemessagingapps.com/">securemessagingapps.com</a> - Secure Messaging Apps Comparison.</li>
  <li><a href="https://www.thinkprivacy.io/messengers.html">thinkprivacy.io</a> - Simple Secure Messaging Apps Comparison.</li>
</ul>


<h3>Worth Mentioning</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="https://briarproject.org/">Briar</a> - An ultra-secure peer-to-peer instant messenger that connects to contacts via Direct Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or Tor over the internet, keeping its users protected from surveillance and censorship.
  <li><a href="https://retroshare.cc/">RetroShare</a> - An E2E encrypted instant messaging and voice/video call client. RetroShare supports both TOR and I2P. </li>
  <li><a href="https://xmpp.org/">XMPP</a> - Federated instant messaging protocol with <a href="https://conversations.im/omemo/">OMEMO</a>, OTR, or OpenPGP end-to-end encryption:</li>
  <ul>
    <li><a href="https://conversations.im/">Conversations</a> (Android) - An open source Jabber/XMPP client for Android 4.4+ smartphones. <span class="badge badge-success">OMEMO</span></li>
    <li><a href="https://gajim.org/">Gajim</a> (FreeBSD, Linux, Windows) - An open source fully featured XMPP client. <span class="badge badge-success">OMEMO</span></li>
    <li><a href="https://monal.im/">Monal</a> (iOS, MacOS) - An XMPP client in active development. <span class="badge badge-success">OMEMO</span></li>
    <li><a href="https://omemo.top/">Other OMEMO ready clients</a>.</li>
  </ul>
  <li><a href="https://www.kontalk.org/">Kontalk</a> - A community-driven instant messaging network. Supports end-to-end encryption. Both client-to-server and server-to-server channels are fully encrypted.</li>
  <li><a href="https://keybase.io/">Keybase</a> - <span class="badge badge-warning" data-toggle="tooltip" title="This software relies on a closed-source central server.">Warning</span> End-to-end encrypted messaging with social verification.</li>
  <li><a href="https://status.im/">Status</a> - <span class="badge badge-warning">Experimental</span> A free and open-source, peer-to-peer, encrypted instant messanger with support for DAPPs.</li>
  <li><a href="https://ricochet.im/">Ricochet</a> - <span class="badge badge-danger" data-toggle="tooltip" title="This software is safe if you manually keep Tor up to date."><a href="#ricochetTor" class="text-white">Danger</a></span> <span class="badge badge-warning" data-toggle="tooltip" title="This software is considered safe but experimental and the client has not been updated since 2016."><a href="https://github.com/ricochet-im/ricochet#experimental">Experimental</a></span> Ricochet uses the <a href="/browsers/#browser"><i class="fas fa-link"></i> Tor network</a> to reach your contacts without relying on messaging servers. It creates a hidden service, which is used to rendezvous with your contacts without revealing your location or IP address.</li>
</ul>


<h3>Related Information</h3>

<ul>
  <li><a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/mg7v3a/ricochet-encrypted-messenger-tackles-metadata-problem-head-on">Ricochet, the Messenger That Beats Metadata, Passes Security Audit | Motherboard</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/07/14/communicating-secret-watched/">Chatting in Secret While We're All Being Watched - firstlook.org</a></li>
  <li><a href="https://signal.org/android/apk/">Advanced users with special needs can download the Signal APK directly. Most users should not do this under normal circumstances.</a></li>
</ul>

<!-- Updating the Tor binary included with Ricochet -->
<h3 id="ricochetTor" class="anchor"><a href="#ricochetTor"><i class="fas fa-link anchor-icon"></i></a> Updating the Tor binary included with Ricochet</h3>

Currently there are no known vulnerabilities with Ricochet. The software is safe to use as long as you update the included Tor binary to the latest version.

<ol class="long-string-list">
  <li>Download the <a href="/browsers/#browser"><i class="fas fa-link"></i> Tor Browser</a>.</li>
  <li>Run the Tor Browser installer or extract package for your platform. Windows (.exe), MacOSX (.dmg) and Linux (.tar.bz2).</li>
  <li>Copy the Tor binary or create a symbolic link to it: </li>
  <br>
  <ul>
      <li><strong>Windows: </strong>Copy the Tor binary included with the Tor Browser and overwrite the old one included with Ricochet.</li>
      <ul>
          <li>Tor Browser binary: <code>%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\Tor Browser\Browser\TorBrowser\Tor\tor.exe</code></li>
          <li>Ricochet's included binary: <code>%HOMEPATH%\Desktop\Ricochet\tor.exe</code></li>
      </ul>
      <br>
      <li><strong>MacOSX: </strong>Assuming you copied the <code>Tor Browser.app</code> and <code>Ricochet.app</code> from their respective .dmg install media to <code>/Applications</code>: <br>
          Create a symbolic link to the Tor binary in Terminal. Ricochet will continue to use the up to date version of the Tor binary when you update the Tor Browser Bundle.</li>
      <ul>
          <li><code>rm ~/Applications/Ricochet.app/Contents/MacOS/tor <br>
                    ln -s ~/Applications/Tor\ Browser.app/Contents/Resources/TorBrowser/Tor/tor \ <br>
                          ~/Applications/Ricochet.app/Contents/MacOS/tor</code>
          </li>
      </ul>
      <br>
      <li><strong>Linux: </strong>Assuming you extracted the Tor Browser Bundle and Ricochet tarball to your home directory:</li>
      <ul>
          <li><code>rm ~/ricochet/tor <br>
                    ln -s ~/tor-browser_en-US/Browser/TorBrowser/Tor/tor ~/ricochet/tor</code>
          </li>
      </ul>
  <ul>
</ol>