Important

Text Messaging

Regular text messages aren’t private. Switch to an app that encrypts your conversations end-to-end.

My recommendation

Signal

The gold standard for private messaging. Free, open-source, and used by journalists, lawyers, and security experts worldwide. Available on iPhone and Android.

Download Signal
  1. 1

    Download Signal

    It’s free. Get it on iPhone or Android. Signal also has a desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

  2. 2

    Register with your phone number

    Signal uses your existing phone number as your identifier. You don’t need a new account or username — just verify your number and you’re set up.

  3. 3

    Invite your contacts

    Signal automatically shows you which of your contacts already use it. For those who don’t, you can send them an invitation. The more people you invite, the more of your conversations become private.

  4. 4

    Use Signal for sensitive conversations

    Start using Signal for any conversation you’d want to keep private: medical topics, financial discussions, family matters, or anything you wouldn’t want a stranger to read.

  5. 5

    Enable disappearing messages (optional)

    In any conversation, tap the contact name at the top → Disappearing Messages. Set a timer (1 week is a good default) and messages will automatically delete after that time on both sides.

💡
Use it like a regular text app

Signal looks and works exactly like your regular messaging app. You can send texts, photos, videos, voice messages, and make free calls and video calls — all encrypted.

⚠
Regular SMS is not encrypted

When you send a regular text message (the green bubbles on iPhone), it travels as plain text through your carrier's network. Your carrier, the government, and anyone who intercepts the transmission can read it.

What’s wrong with regular text messages?

Standard SMS text messages — the ones that show up as green bubbles on an iPhone — are transmitted as plain text through your mobile carrier’s network. Your carrier stores records of your messages, which can be subpoenaed by law enforcement or accessed by carrier employees. SMS messages can also be intercepted using relatively inexpensive equipment.

iMessage (the blue bubbles on iPhone) is end-to-end encrypted when both parties use Apple devices, which is a significant improvement. However, if you have iCloud Backup enabled, your messages are backed up to Apple’s servers in a way that Apple can access. Signal has no such backup vulnerability.

What makes Signal different

Signal uses the Signal Protocol, which is widely regarded as the gold standard for encrypted messaging. Every message is encrypted end-to-end, meaning only the sender and recipient can read it — not Signal, not your carrier, not the government. The protocol has been independently audited and is so well-regarded that WhatsApp and Google Messages use it too.

Unlike WhatsApp (owned by Meta) or Google Messages, Signal is operated by a nonprofit foundation with no advertising business. It collects the absolute minimum data: your phone number and the date you last connected to the service. That’s it.

What about WhatsApp?

WhatsApp uses the Signal Protocol for message encryption, so the messages themselves are encrypted. However, WhatsApp is owned by Meta (Facebook) and collects significant metadata: who you talk to, when, how often, your phone number, device information, and more. This metadata is shared with Meta’s advertising systems. For truly private communication, Signal is the better choice.

Further Reading