DustĪ discreet messaging app, Dust lets you send private messages, photos, and videos (no voice or video calls) called “Dusts” to your contacts that disappear shortly after being read. While Apple has refused to create “back doors” into their system or weaken encryption, they and other tech companies do have a history of cooperating with authorities and turning over information stored on the cloud. If you back up your iMessages to iCloud, these messages are encrypted using a key controlled by Apple, not you. However, Apple is quick to patch vulnerabilities when they appear. And in 2021, the Pegasus spyware was shown to exploit an iMessage vulnerability. In 2019, researchers from Project Zero presented six high-level exploits that allowed them to use iMessages to take over a user’s device. Security risks: Known encryption weaknesses, iCloud backups In later iMessage versions, users can control how long each photo, video, or message will appear before it disappears (self-destructs), and how many times the viewer can see the message. FaceTime - iMessage’s partner app - encrypts voice and video calls. On other devices, it functions as a typical unencrypted texting app. IMessage only encrypts messages between iPhone users. Security features: End-to-end encryption, self-destructing messages, messages deleted from servers automatically Keeping your iPhone safe is one thing, but is iMessage actually secure? Letting users send texts, documents, videos, photos, contact information, and group messages over the internet, iMessage is very popular among iPhone users. Apple iMessageĪpple’s iMessage is the most popular texting app for iPhone, and it’s supported by the Messenger application on iOS version 5.0 and later. Many of the most secure messaging apps for mobile are also available as desktop applications. The most secure messaging apps for Android and iPhone are texting apps that include end-to-end encryption, are encrypted by default, store minimal (or no) data, don't track your phone, and are built with open-source code. The most secure messaging apps for Android and iPhone Note: All messaging apps on this list use end-to-end encryption. In the event of a data breach, any leaked conversations will still be secured. End-to-end encryption also prevents secure messaging apps from storing copies of your communications on their servers.

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