#What is whatsapp messenger service software#

In addition, unlike WhatsApp, Threema does not store metadata about who is communicating with whom and when. When Threema synchronizes contacts from your phone’s contact list, they are only transferred to the server anonymously (“hashed”). Additionally, Threema manages groups and contact lists only on the mobile device, not on the server. In addition, messages are deleted from the server as soon as they are successfully transmitted. Like WhatsApp, Threema uses end-to-end encryption for all messages. Like most alternatives to WhatsApp the app is very secure when it comes to data. Threema is a messaging app from Switzerland. Users who do not like this and the non-transparent corporate structure of the messenger would be better off looking for another alternative to WhatsApp. Since this type of encryption isn’t possible for cloud-based content, Telegram makes a compromise here regarding data protection for greater user-friendliness. It’s important to mention that the latest version of WhatsApp now also offers end-to-end encryption for all messages. The message and/or content sent also can’t be copied from the chat or forwarded to anyone else, and if the sender chooses to delete it, then it will also be deleted from the recipient’s device. There’s also a setting for the secret chat mode that ensures the message will delete itself after a certain time. In what are known as secret chats, Telegram offers an end-to-end encryption, which ensures that only the sender and the recipient can read a message. The developers offer two different forms of encryption for users: for all private and group chats, there’s a server-client encryption, which encrypts messages on the way from sender to server and from server to recipient. Telegram is considered a very secure application. WhatsApp, on the other hand, puts limits on the amount of data and file size that you can receive and send, based on the capacity of your device – usually a smartphone. A further advantage is the limitless, large-scale file sharing. Their WhatsApp alternative has been developed even further: the service is cloud-based, meaning that Telegram users can access their messages and content on a variety of mobile devices as well as on their computer. Telegram is a company run by the Russian brothers Pavel and Nikolai Durov, famous for founding the Russian alternative to Facebook, VKontakte. The advantage is that the chance of the backup landing in the wrong hands is a lot slimmer. This means it is possible to back up content manually to another device, but this takes significantly longer and requires much more effort than a typical backup.

Threema allow the export of chats on all operating systems, Signal only offers an export function for Android. And while some of the alternatives to WhatsApp we’ve discussed i.e. The only thing the app can store is whether someone uses the service.įor security reasons, Signal offers no backup function, unlike many other apps like WhatsApp. Signal hardly stores any metadata, especially no information about who communicates with whom. In contrast, users are required to share their contact list with Signal when they sign up. Both private and group chats are secured with end-to-end encryption, and telephone numbers are transmitted anonymously (“hashed”) to the server. Open Whisper Systems is financed entirely by scholarship grants and donations, so it doesn’t rely on any advertising.Īs might be expected from the developers of the most famous encryption technology available for messengers, security is at the forefront of everything Signal does. Edward Snowden uses Signal, and the team around cryptographer Moxie Marlinspike, the founder of Open Whisper Systems, enjoys an excellent reputation among IT security experts.

#What is whatsapp messenger service software#

The Signal creators’ Open Whisper Systems have delivered end-to-end encryption software with open source code and have been used by WhatsApp, Telegram, and more, to develop their own encryption. Signal is, like most alternatives to WhatsApp, relatively unknown, and its developers even more so.