The Best Secure Messaging Apps for iPhone (2024) privacy

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The Best Secure Messaging Apps for iPhone play a pivotal role in safeguarding and cherishing the meaningful interactions you share with friends, family, and colleagues. Whether through private or group chats, these applications provide an invaluable means of connecting with individuals across the globe, fostering a sense of closeness and security.

But how sure are you that your conversations won’t be heard?  From a group of 350 people, Userlike.com found that over 30%, or almost one-third, are worried about the privacy of their data when they use messaging apps.

We’ve made a list of the best encrypted messaging apps that will keep your conversations safe and private so you don’t have to worry. Let’s look at each one in turn.

Best Secure Messaging Apps for iPhone Comparison Table

App Name	End-to-End Encryption	Self-Destructing Messages	Group Chat	Voice/Video Calls	File Sharing		Download Now
Signal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Download Now
iMessage	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes		N/A
Telegram	Optional	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Download Now
Threema	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Download Now
Session	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes		Download Now
Wickr Me	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Download Now
Wire	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Download Now

Signal

Feature	Description
End-to-end encryption	All messages, calls, and media are end-to-end encrypted
Group chat	Supports group chat with up to 1000 members
Disappearing messages	Messages can be set to disappear after a set amount of time
Voice and video calls	High-quality voice and video calls
Screen lock	Option to lock the app with a PIN or biometric authentication

Signal is on the list of 2022’s best secure messaging apps. This secure chat app is used by millions of people from well-known brands because it lets them talk to each other quickly, for free, and securely. It is also easy to use. Secure messaging uses privacy-protecting technology to make sure that sharing moments or sending messages to the wrong people doesn’t happen. All of the data is kept safe with advanced end-to-end encryption.

Since it’s open source, anyone can look at the app’s code to see if it’s safe. But there are some other features, like group chats, encrypted voice calls, the ability to archive messages, and the ability to send media without a PIN code or any other kind of credential.

iMessage

Feature	Description
End-to-end encryption	All messages, calls, and media are end-to-end encrypted
Integration with Apple devices	Can only be used on Apple devices
Animoji and Memoji	Customizable animated emoji that mimic facial expressions
Stickers and GIFs	Wide selection of stickers and GIFs available
Share location	Can share current location or a location on a map

Because it uses end-to-end encryption, iMessage is one of the most private chat messaging apps for iPhone users. Also, it gives the user full control over how long a message stays and how many times the recipient can see it. This seems so strange, but it’s one of the main reasons why user data is kept safe.

But still, there are some problems with every private chat messaging app. Even iPhone users have a problem with the cloud backup options. Here, the data stored in the cloud are encrypted by Apple, which holds the key. This means that if the iCloud were ever hacked, the messages might be easy to read.

Telegram

Feature	Description
Cloud-based	Messages are stored in the cloud and can be accessed from multiple devices
Group chat	Supports group chat with up to 200,000 members
Channels	Allows users to broadcast messages to a large audience
End-to-end encrypted chat	Secret chats feature supports end-to-end encryption
Voice and video calls	High-quality voice and video calls

Like Signal and WhatsApp, Telegram lets users link their phone number to their Telegram account so they can send fast, encrypted messages over the internet. For standard chats, Telegram uses client-server encryption. Telegram is not just a messaging service, though. It has grown into a worldwide social media platform with millions of users and broadcasts that can reach all of them at once. It can be used for more than just secure messages.

Telegram, on the other hand, does not have end-to-end encryption turned on by default. You’ll have to go into Secret Chat mode to get it. You can make messages disappear after a certain amount of time, share videos and documents, and join group chats with up to 200,000 other people. (Yes, Telegram does allow chats with that many people.) But chats with more than two people won’t be encrypted all the way through.

Threema

Feature	Description
End-to-end encryption	All messages, calls, and media are end-to-end encrypted
No phone number or email required	Users can create an anonymous ID for use with the app
Voice and video calls	High-quality voice and video calls
Group chat	Supports group chat with up to 256 members
Polls	Allows users to create polls within a chat

Threema is a very secure end-to-end encrypted messaging app that protects your conversations with the NaCl cryptography library.  When you open the app, it gives you a unique Threema ID key that lets you use the app without giving anyone your name. If you don’t want to do that, you can link your account to a phone number or email address, which makes it easier for other Threema users to find you. 

You’ll also get a scannable QR code that you can show to other Threema users if you meet in person but don’t want to exchange names. The app has all the usual messaging features, like encrypted text, voice, picture, and video messaging. It also has file sharing (20MB per file), emojis, group messaging, and a polling system for getting feedback from friends and contacts.

Session

Feature	Description
Secure messaging	Messages are end-to-end encrypted
No personal information required	Users can create an anonymous ID for use with the app
Group chat	Supports group chat with up to 10 members
No metadata	Does not collect any metadata about users
Voice and video calls	High-quality voice and video calls

Do you like that the Tor browser lets you use the internet without being tracked? Well, think of Session as a messaging version of the Tor browser. This open-source messaging app uses peer-run servers to send and receive messages. You can start sending and receiving messages without giving out your email or phone number. 

Messages are sent and received through a decentralized onion routing network that works like Tor. The messaging app uses Session Protocol, which is based on Libsodium and is the company’s own end-to-end encryption protocol. You can make both audio and video calls, and everything is encrypted from start to finish. Session also removes EXIF data from the attachments you send so that both senders and recipients can remain anonymous.

Wickr Me

Feature	Description
End-to-end encryption	All messages, calls, and media are end-to-end encrypted
Self-destructing messages	Messages can be set to self-destruct after a specified time
Secure file sharing	Allows secure sharing of files and documents
Voice and video calls	High-quality voice and video calls
Screen sharing	Ability to share the screen during calls

Wickr Me, as it likes to be called, is another messaging app that wants to make chats safe. The goal of most of its features is to make you feel safer. It makes it possible to encrypt texts, voice messages, videos, and pictures from start to finish. It also has a “Shredder” feature that deletes all of your chats and media content from your device in a way that can’t be undone.

There are also a number of other security features, such as the fact that Wickr ID is anonymous, there is no metadata information, you can set an expiration date for all messages, and more. Wickr Me also says that it won’t read your messages, won’t collect any of your personal information, and won’t own the text or media you send on Wickr.

Wire

Feature	Description
End-to-end encryption	All messages, calls, and media are end-to-end encrypted
Collaboration features	Integration with productivity tools for team collaboration
Voice and video calls	High-quality voice and video calls
Screen sharing	Ability to share the screen during calls
Secure guest rooms	Securely invite external participants to join conversations

Wire is an app for iOS, Android, and other desktop platforms that lets you send secret messages. The E2E encryption is on by default, which is great, and it works for all types of communication on Wire. It also lets people work together in groups and has better security, so if you run a business or organization and need a private messaging app, Wire is a great choice.

Next, the company is based in Switzerland, so your data is protected by the strict privacy laws of the EU. Wire has been found to collect very little information about its users, and that information is only used to send messages securely. Wire is great because it also encrypts the metadata, which should make users much safer.

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