Degoogle your Private Life #4 - Real time messaging

Concerned about your data, targeted advertising, or online surveillance? This tutorial series shows you how to replace Big Tech services with free, open-source alternatives that respect your privacy, and take back control of your digital life today.

Private messaging should be private!

Centralized communication platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Discord, Telegram, and Snapchat have rapidly replaced SMS and phone calls as the dominant means of interpersonal communication worldwide. While these apps offer convenience, speed, and global reach at no monetary cost, most of them fall short when it comes to protecting user privacy.

To assess the privacy of a communication platform, we have selected key criteria we consider essential for determining how well an app protects user data:

Open Source vs. Proprietary
Open-source platforms allow their source code to be publicly accessible, enabling independent audits and verification of security. This transparency ensures there are no hidden vulnerabilities or backdoors. Proprietary platforms, on the other hand, keep their source code closed, requiring users to trust the company’s claims about security without verification.
End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)
E2EE ensures that only the sender and receiver can read the contents of a conversation. It is a crucial feature for privacy, as it prevents third parties, including the platform itself, from accessing message content.
Metadata Collection
Even with strong E2EE, platforms often collect metadata such as contact lists, timestamps, message frequency, and call duration. This metadata can reveal a lot about users’ behaviors and relationships, making it valuable for profiling and targeted advertising.
Integration with External Services
Many platforms integrate with third-party services, such as cloud storage or AI chatbots. These integrations can compromise privacy by exposing user data to additional entities without explicit consent.
Default Privacy Settings
Privacy features should be enabled by default to ensure all users benefit from protection without needing to manually configure settings. If users must activate privacy settings themselves, many will not, leaving their data exposed.

App	Open Source	E2EE by Default	Metadata Collection	External Integrations	Default Privacy Settings
WhatsApp	Proprietary	Yes	Extensive	AI bot, Google backups	Strong defaults
Facebook Messenger	Proprietary	No (opt-in)	Extensive	Many (ads, bots, etc)	Weak defaults
Discord	Proprietary	No (opt-in)	Extensive	Many (bots, services)	Weak defaults
Telegram	Partial	No (Secret Chats only) Many issues with implementation	Extensive	Many (bots, cloud)	Weak defaults
Snapchat	Proprietary	No	Extensive	Many (ads, services)	Weak defaults

The good news is that there are privacy-respecting alternatives. The challenge lies in migrating and convincing others to use them. We’ll highlight four options chosen for their open source code, the use of end-to-end-encryption, and metadata protections, and share practical tips to help you get started using them.

Privacy-respecting messaging apps

Signal

Signal is a mobile app funded by the non-profit Signal Foundation. It offers instant messaging, calls, and video calls encrypted with the Signal protocol, which supports forward secrecy and post-compromise security.

Open Source: Signal is fully open source, allowing for independent audits and verification of its security, ensuring transparency and trust.

E2EE by Default: All messages, calls, and video calls are end-to-end encrypted by default, ensuring that only the communicating users can read the messages.

Metadata Protection: Signal minimizes metadata collection, though some metadata is visible to the central server but not stored or shared with third parties. Backups are entirely your responsibility: if you lose your device and don’t have a backup, your messages are gone.

Multiple Device Support: Limited; the desktop app and Linux mobile apps don’t work as a standalone app—they stop functioning after some time if the main iOS or Android device they are linked to goes offline.

Advantages: Easy to get started and use, with over 100 million users, making it widely adopted and convenient for convincing friends and family to switch.

Limitations: Centralized service with a single point of failure, making it vulnerable to censorship. Registration requires a phone number, which may be a privacy concern for some users.

Installing Signal

For Android or iOS: https://signal.org/download

Desktop apps are available for Linux (including mobile devices), Windows, and MacOS..

Federated Instant messaging: Elements/Matrix

Federated applications like Element operate on a network model similar to email: no single server or company controls all user data or communication. Independent servers communicate using the Matrix protocol, ensuring interoperability, resilience, and freedom from censorship. Users select a home server to host their account, much like choosing an email provider.

Open Source: Element and the Matrix protocol are fully open source, allowing for transparency and community-driven improvements.

E2EE by Default: Messages are end-to-end encrypted by default, ensuring that only the sender and receiver can read the contents of a conversation.

Metadata Protection: In a one-to-one chat, only the two participating homeservers can see metadata. In group chats, the homeservers of all participants have access..

Multiple Device Support: Yes, supports multiple devices seamlessly, making it convenient for users who switch between devices.

Advantages: Highly configurable, supporting chat rooms, large group “spaces”, bridges with other protocols, and server federation. This flexibility is ideal for teams and organizations.

Limitations: Federated systems can be complex for new users, with challenges in user experience, message synchronization, and moderation. Beginners must choose among the many options for client and homeserver, which can be daunting.

Installing Element

For Android:

Download Element from Aurora Store if you prefer avoiding Google Play Store

For iOS:

Download from the App Store

Desktop apps are available for Linux (including mobile devices), Windows, and MacOS.

Getting started:

Choose a server. There is a list of public servers here: servers.joinmatrix.org
Add your contacts. Adding contacts is as simple as scanning a QR code.
Learn how to make backups. Backups are vital, and also permit you to migrate to another service if needed.

Decentralized Messaging: SimpleX

SimpleX Chat is an instant messenger that doesn’t depend on unique identifiers such as phone numbers or usernames. It runs on a fully decentralized peer-to-peer network, similar to how file sharing works on BitTorrent, making it highly resistant to censorship.

Open Source: SimpleX is fully open source, ensuring transparency and community-driven improvements.

E2EE by Default: Supports encrypted direct messaging, group chats, and calls, with all messages and calls end-to-end encrypted by default.

Metadata Protection: Metadata is protected by using unidirectional “simplex queues” to deliver messages, ensuring high privacy.

Multiple Device Support: No; because there are no central servers, data must be manually exported and imported between devices.

Advantages: Decentralized and protects metadata, ensuring high resistance to censorship. No central servers, making it highly private and secure.

Limitations: Very few users, which can make it difficult to convince friends and family to switch. No remote contact discovery; users must exchange QR codes or invite links one by one. Slow message delivery compared to centralized services. Losing your device and your backups means losing all contacts and messages.

Installing SimpleX

For Android:

Download from F-droid.
Download from Aurora Store if you prefer avoiding Google Play Store

For iOS:

Download from the App Store

SimpleX also has apps for Linux, Windows, MacOS, among other platforms, both desktop and mobile on the download page.

Decentralized, Anonymous Messaging: Briar

Briar is an encrypted instant messenger aimed at activists, journalists, and civil society actors. It uses the Tor anonymity network to connect to others with the Bramble protocol suite, which protects both data and metadata. Like SimpleX, Briar is fully decentralized, offering resistance to censorship and eliminating any single point of failure.

Open Source: Briar is fully open source, ensuring transparency and community-driven improvements.

E2EE by Default: All messages are end-to-end encrypted by default, ensuring that only the sender and receiver can read message content.

Metadata Protection: Highly anonymous, no metadata is exposed, ensuring maximum privacy.

Multiple Device Support: No; there is no iOS app or support for multiple devices.

Advantages: Decentralized and anonymous, good for high-risk or offline scenarios. Works even if the internet is unavailable via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Limitations: Very few users, no voice or video calls, and no multimedia support. No iOS client.

Installing Briar

For Android:

Download from F-Droid (most private option)
Or get it from Aurora Store if you prefer avoiding Google Play Store

Desktop versions are available for Linux, Windows, and MacOS.

Private Instant Messengers Compared

App	Open Source	E2EE by Default	Metadata Collection	Multiple Device Support	User Base	Advantages	Limitations
Signal	Yes	Yes	Seen by server, not stored/shared	Partial (desktop needs mobile)	100M+	Easy to use, widely adopted	Centralized, phone # required
Element	Yes	Yes	Limited to homeservers	Yes	100M+	Highly configurable, bridges, org-friendly	Federated, complex, requires setup
SimpleX	Yes	Yes	No (simplex queues)	No	500K+	Decentralized, metadata-protected, censorship-resistant	No remote discovery, slow, manual device transfer
Briar	Yes	Yes	No, highly anonymous	No	1M+	Decentralized, anonymous, offline, censorship-resistant	No calls/multimedia, no iOS

More Alternatives?

The apps highlighted here represent just a few of the private alternatives to mainstream communication platforms that dominate much of today’s digital space. Other privacy-respecting options worth exploring include Threema, Wire, Session, DeltaChat, Cwtch, Tox, and Jami.

Tips for Transitioning from Big Tech messaging apps

Create new accounts and start adding contacts. You might be surprised by how many of your contacts are already on alternative platforms.
Give yourself time to adjust: The interfaces may differ from what you’re used to. Find the one that works best for you—most offer both desktop and mobile options.
Notify your contacts in advance before leaving a platform so they aren’t caught off guard. Share your new handle or a link to the platform and encourage them to connect there. Once confirmed, you can close or block your old account, leaving a final message with your new contact details or an alternative way to reach you (like email).
Be patient: It may take time to convince friends and organizations to move away from big tech. By being an early adopter, you help create a more privacy-friendly future for everyone.

Done degoogling your communications? Brag about it!

While Google isn’t one of the major players, the major communication apps have many of the same owners as the rest of big tech. By removing big tech from your communications, you’ve taken another significant step toward protecting your privacy. Our data and metadata is the most sensitive information we generate, revealing how we live, what we work on, our thoughts and most intimate needs.

Please share this article with family and loved ones. Privacy is a team sport!

What about your mobile device?

Even before installing an app, your Android or iOS device starts collecting and using your data. An important step is to replace it with a custom operating system, which improves performance, security, privacy, and sustainability. To learn more about how to replace your Android device, check out our complete guide.

Be smarter than your phone!

At iodé, we are specialised in developing private and secure software for mobile devices. If you’d like to buy a device with iodéOS preinstalled, please visit our shop! These sales help pay for the development of the software. That said, you can also DIY install: iodéOS is open source, available for installation on 50+ devices.

We are passionate about helping people regain control over their technology, and we offer this set of tutorials to help people overcome their dependency on big tech.

Coming up next: Degoogle your private life #5 – Private Browsing.

Private messaging should be private!