**Similar solutions but not quite |

A detailed comparison of Security, Features, and Privacy**

Wispr | WhatsApp | Signal | Telegram

When looking for a more secure messenger app in the infinity pool of social networking titans, this comparison guide might come up quite handy. Key privacy features make the subject of this article, and if you are a user of encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram, this guide is for you.

We made a quick background check on the latest Privacy Policies modifications and key features to better understand each app from a user privacy standpoint.

As an alternative solution, we’ll present the key features, security, and benefits offered by the Wispr app, developed by CryptoDATA Tech.

CryptoDATA Tech is a company that operates in the field of technology, aiming especially at the development of cyber security solutions, defining the security of communication in the digital environment. The company aims to support individual and corporate users through its new messaging app with an innovative and complex solution for secure and encrypted communication.

Presenting a one-of-a-kind integral encrypted messaging app — Wispr

Wispr is an encrypted messenger application developed in 2019 by the Romanian company CryptoDATA Tech, and it represents the first application designed especially for encrypted communication and secure file transfer developed in Romania.

Given today’s challenge of keeping one’s privacy private, Wispr is the present and future of secured communication. Each high-fidelity message, audio and video calls, or file transfers are fully private, with no third party being able to interfere.

The most important features of the Wispr app for users worldwide:

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FULLY PROTECTED: Wispr is a state-of-the-art technology that ensures secure messaging and file transfers to and from anyone at any time.

BY NEW ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGY: Each and every element on the app (messages, audio and video calls, file transfers) is encrypted by the VOBP (Voice Over Blockchain Protocol).

FREE: Privacy should not be perceived as a preference but as a given right and so, private communication should not be a choice but normality.

Wispr users are part of the Elite Network of Privacy

Although Wispr was originally developed exclusively for CryptoDATA’s encrypted smart devices, the IMPulse K1 smartphone, and the BASM laptop, now is available free of charge on Google Play and App Store.

In particular, it represents a flexible solution for secure inter-company communication, facilitating both the exchange of audio and text messages, secure file transfer, as well as making voice, video, and teleconferencing calls through regular smart devices.

Detailed comparison of the global leading messenger apps:

First in line: WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the largest messaging service in the world with over two billion monthly active users. Looking at this number, it’s clear that for now, WhatsApp is the undisputed champion of the digital communication world.

But lately, the WhatsApp users have been confused, to put it mildly, about the app respecting their privacy.

As you might know, WhatsApp announced new Terms of Services, causing people to start excessively downloading Telegram and Signal in search of alternative messaging apps.

The issue was that starting from May 15, 2021 (initially February 8, 2021), WhatsApp has started sharing data with its parent company Facebook, now Meta, and the users were not able to avoid this distribution as they previously could.

Understandably, this caused uneasiness among the WhatsApp users and, as we mentioned, astonishing popularity among its direct competitors’ Telegram and Signal.

Second: Signal

source: Signal

Signal is a private messenger created by Signal Foundation. Its encryption is based on the Signal Messaging Protocol developed by Open Whisper Systems, a company founded in 2013 by privacy advocate Moxie Marlinspike.

Signal’s main function is that it can send — to either an individual or a group — end-to-end encrypted text, video, and audio, after verifying the user phone number and letting all Signal users independently verify each other’s identity.

Third: Telegram

source: Telegram

Telegram is a messaging application created by Pavel Durov, a Russian entrepreneur who’s behind Russia’s most popular social media platform. Telegram offers cloud-based storage that allows users to share files up to a 2GB limit. Also, Telegram offers secret chats where users can privately exchange self-destructing messages.

Security

WhatsApp

One thing that WhatsApp definitely has going for it is its end-to-end encryption. So all your messages, video calls, voice calls, photos, and anything else you share is end-to-end encrypted on WhatsApp.

What that means, is that you and the recipient are the only people who can read the messages you send to them. WhatsApp can’t decrypt the contents of your messages, calls, photos, etc., but….

Even though all your communication on WhatsApp uses E2E encryption, the company does not encrypt backups (cloud and local). Also, it does not encrypt the metadata which is used to carry communication between two endpoints. This is one of the major criticisms which made WhatsApp’s users start privacy concern conversations. While metadata does not allow anyone to read the actual messages, it lets authorities know whom and when the user messaged someone, and for how long.

That said, WhatsApp has suffered a couple of major privacy nightmares, especially the recent issue with group chats getting indexed on Google search. That issue has been fixed, however, it was not a good look for the messaging app.

Signal

Signal uses the open-source Signal Protocol to implement end-to-end encryption. And just like WhatsApp, the E2E encryption covers all forms of communication on Signal.

While WhatsApp encrypts messages and calls (and that’s enough for most users), Signal goes one step further and encrypts the metadata too. In order to protect user privacy from all corners, Signal devised a new way to communicate between the sender and the recipient and it’s called Sealed Sender.

In terms of security and privacy protection, Signal stands head and shoulder above WhatsApp and Telegram and that makes it the most secure messaging app between the three.

Telegram

As far as security is concerned, Telegram does offer some protections to its users. But, while Telegram supports E2E encryption, it’s not enabled by default. The only way to use E2E encryption on Telegram is to use its secret chats feature.

Messages sent in a secret chat are E2E encrypted, but regular chats are not. This means that the messages are encrypted on the user’s device and then they are decrypted on Telegram’s server. Again, the messages are encrypted on the server and sent to the recipient’s device for final decryption.

Telegram groups are not encrypted because Secret Chats are only supported for single-user communication. Moreover, Telegram’s desktop client doesn’t support E2E encryption on any platform other than macOS.

Features and Services

WhatsApp

WhatsApp Messenger’s set of features has all basics covered, alongside free text and voice messages, as well as voice and video calls. You can share photos and videos with the size limit for video and image sharing, as well as voice messages, is 16MB.

Also, it supports the capability of sending over documents, PDFs, spreadsheets, contacts, location details, etc. The size limit for these files is 100MB.

WhatsApp offers group chats with up to 256 members, where you can mute or customise notifications, have voice and video calls with up to 8 individuals, etc.

They provide the Status feature, very similar to Instagram Stories — you can post images and videos of up to 30 seconds, and they are visible for 24 hours.

You can enable disappearing messages on WhatsApp, so after seven days, your messages disappear (in individual or group chats). It’s important to mention that people, on the other end, can save your messages by using screenshot or copy/pasting them elsewhere before they disappear. In group chats, only admins can enable this option.

Signal

Like its competitors, Signal messenger app has all of the essential features covered — free SMS (text) and MMS (group and media), voice and video calls, option to share location, files and documents. The size limit for sending MMS is 300kb, which is a rather small capacity compared to WhatsApp, not to mention Telegram. What Signal provides against its competitors is an option to make Signal messaging the default SMS/MMS application. This way, users are sending and receiving unencrypted SMS messages in addition to the standard E2E encrypted Signal messages. This is possible only on Androids.

Group chats can have up to 1000 members, while voice and video calls are currently limited to eight participants.

You can set Signal’s disappearing messages to vanish after anywhere between 5 seconds to 7 days. Unlike WhatsApp’s case, anyone in the Signal chat can manage disappearing messages. For a sender, the timer starts after a disappearing message has been sent. However, for a receiver, the timer starts after they’ve read the received message.

Similarly, you can send view-once images and videos, which automatically disappear after sending or seeing them.

A feature that Signal provides, and neither WhatsApp nor Telegram do, is Message Reaction. This option allows you to respond to a message with an emoji reaction, which can be quite convenient and add up to a conversation dynamic.

Another Signal’s feature is Note to Self, which enables users to send messages to themselves, even the disappearing messages. It is an excellent concept since it can be used as a virtual personal notepad.

Similar to Telegram’s Instant View, Signal provides an option called Link Previews, which is available for sites that start with HTTPS. Telegram is in the lead when it comes to this option since its Instant View is available for all sites.

Signal also provides emojis, stickers, GIFs, change of your wallpapers, dark mode option, or even use of incognito mode for your android’s keyboard.

Telegram

Like WhatsApp, Telegram offers free text and voice messages, voice and video calls, media sharing, and sharing of location details, files and documents. The size limit for any data is much higher than its competitors, a whopping 2GB.

Telegram’s leverage over its competitors is that it allows multiple accounts on one phone, for both Android and iOS. WhatsApp and Signal can only be registered on one phone number per one device; therefore, you can only choose one number to verify with WhatsApp or Signal if you have a dual SIM phone.

Telegram provides the ability to edit your messages after you’ve sent them, something that WhatsApp and Signal don’t offer, and it is a considerable advantage, especially if you are cautious about “grammar”. On all three messaging apps, you can delete your messages. What differentiates Telegram from the other two apps is that you can delete them without a trace. Meaning that after you delete a message, no one would even know it was there in the first place. All that remains is a blank space, without the “This message was deleted” sign, unlike Signal and WhatsApp.

Telegram has group chats for 200,000 members and provides Telegram Channels, the app’s unique feature. Telegram Channels’ capacity is unlimited, making it an excellent tool for sharing messages with a vast audience. Only admins can send messages, and each message has a view counter that shows when the message is viewed and even more when it’s forwarded.

Telegram has a Secret Chat option, where they use end-to-end encryption and can only be used on their devices of origin. Messages from secret chats can’t be forwarded, and they state that they will try to alert you about screenshots taken in your secret chat.

Option for all Telegram chats, somewhat similar to WhatsApp’s disappearing messages, is the auto-delete timer. This way, you can automatically erase messages for all participants 24 hours or seven days after sending, and not after they have been read like in Secret Chats.

Telegram Passport is another feature, an authorization method for services that request your ID. Not quite beneficial for the users that prefer true privacy as they will have an identity association with the Telegram account.

Conclusion

So which app is the best? Unfortunately, the answer is not that simple. It greatly depends on what you value the most, what is the right fit for you, and your needs for social messaging applications.

WhatsApp’s updates haven’t brought any new features for a while now, but they do introduce a new policy that is generally seen as a downgrade to the app’s security.

Both Signal and Telegram are seen as more secure than WhatsApp. But that’s not exactly true. From an encryption standpoint, Telegram is the worst. Even though it allows you to communicate in encrypted secret chats, it doesn’t offer the same end-to-end encryption as WhatsApp and Signal do by default.

What’s end-to-end encryption anyway? It’s the highest level of communication security applied to your messages. In other words, end-to-end encrypted data is the data no one except you can read. In messengers, “data” means messages you send and receive.

If you want a blockchain-encrypted app, you can try Wispr as it represents a flexible solution for secure inter-company communication, facilitating both the exchange of audio and text messages, secure file transfer, as well as making voice, video, and teleconferencing calls through regular smart devices.

Wispr is available on Google Play and App Store