Best Anonymous Texting iPhone App in 2020
Today personal data security is becoming an increasingly important issue. No matter how much you insist on seeing the world around you through rose-colored spectacles, you have to admit that there are things in your life that need protection. Private correspondence is definitely one of them. Whatever the Whatsapp or Skype devs say, their products are not what you would want to use as an anonymous texting iPhone app. We all know that they keep all correspondence logs on remote servers. Which means they can be perused at any time.
Sure, someone can say that you are just being paranoid, but as one smart person once said, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.” That’s why I’ve prepared a list of best anonymous texting apps for you to use today. They’ll work best for iPhone users who worry about personal information leakage or just don’t want to make it available to any third parties.
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Why do you need an anonymous texting app?
Sometimes it seems like there is little to no anonymity online. You won’t believe how easy it is to gain access to your personal information. Even if you have nothing that can potentially interest any intelligence services, trust me, there might be many others who can find your personal data valuable. Business competitors, ill-wishers of all kinds, hackers who want to use confidential data for personal benefit.
Now, it’s important to understand that there are two kinds of anonymity online, social and technical:
1. Social anonymity implies a lack of any kind of personal information you leave about yourself online. The less information about yourself, your private life, your job, your status, etc. you disclose on the web the higher the level of your social anonymity.
2. Technical anonymity is a trickier subject. Basically, it’s about the set of data used by technical equipment and software. This includes your phone number and your email address, for example.
And while it’s easy to maintain your social anonymity (all you have to do is stop publishing your personal info), technical anonymity is a matter of some effort.
With that being said, I’m not here to fearmonger. On the contrary: there are ways to draw a discrete veil over your personal data. One of these ways is using apps for anonymous texting. Read on to learn more about them!
Best paid anonymous texting apps for iPhone
1. Silent Phone
Silent Phone is an app for making secure calls, video calls, and anonymous messaging. The app was created by a Canadian company called Silent Circle in 2012. Today it’s one of the most well-protected messaging apps that allows users to chat and exchange data anonymously both via voice calls and text messaging.
What anonymity fans might find interesting is that all communication happens within the Silent Phone network only. This means that data transfer is protected and encrypted at all times. You can even have anonymous conversations with people who don’t use the Silent Phone app. However, to do that, you’ll have to use the paid tool called Out-Circle Access.
- Silent Phone can be downloaded from the App Store free of charge. However, to be able to use it, you’ll have to go to the Silent Circle website, register an account and pay for a subscription. The luxury of anonymous messaging will cost you $10 a month or $100 a year;
- All correspondence in the app gets deleted automatically or you can set an autodelete timer;
- The app offers a monochromatic, low-key user interface;
- None of your text messages go to the developer servers. Each user owns his/her own data server;
- You can send messages to other users even when you are offline.
2. Threema
Threema is a brainchild of Swiss developers and one of the most popular apps for those who value anonymity above all. To download it, you’ll have to shell out whopping $3, but this will help you rest assured that your correspondence is totally secure. For example, when you start using the app, you must touch your phone screen with a finger to generate a unique ID code.
What can this app do? Everything you’d expect from a modern messenger. Sending/receiving text messages, voice, and video messages, sharing your geolocation, photos, and other files, creating group chats.
- Threema works rather fast. All messages get encrypted right on your device (which means that only you and your message recipient will be able to read them);
- Users can add new contacts by scanning the QR code of their IDs from their device’s screen. Of course, you can add contacts manually or from your phone contact list, but that’s a much less secure way;
- In case you are afraid someone might get access to your phone, you can create a password to enter each time you open the app. Just keep it in mind that after entering a wrong password ten times, all app data will be deleted;
- Threema offers a simple design and a very user-friendly UI.
3. Encrypt SMS
In case a standalone anonymous messenger isn’t your cup of tea, you can use a more simple app that encrypts any text messages you’d like to keep secret. Encrypt SMS is one such app. <br>
Sure, you’ll have to cough up $4 to be able to use it. But one of the great things about it, apart from its refreshing simplicity, is the fact that you don’t need an Internet connection to use it. The app works perfectly fine offline and turns your text messages into an unintelligible set of symbols for anyone who’s not supposed to read it.
- The app generates a unique password for you and your recipient to be able to read the encrypted messages. Remember that to use the password, your recipients are required to have the same app on their phones;
- The encryption is possible thanks to the groundbreaking 265-bit key algorithm. Similar algorithms are used by governments and the military, so you know it must be reliable;
- Encrypt SMS is fast, effective and extremely easy to use.
Best free anonymous texting app for iPhone
1. Wickr Me
Wickr Me is an online IM app that surfaced in 2013. The app’s developers promise that their app is like no other private messenger. It offers 100% anonymity, total reliability, and leaves no trace either on devices of data servers. As always, it’s for you as a user to decide how much of this is true.
- Wickr Me offers the option of complete removal of any information that can’t be subsequently restored even using special tools;
- The app transfers all kinds of encrypted content, including images, audio, and video files;
- Wickr Me doesn’t allow copying and sending messages and/or any content to any third parties and prevents making screenshots;
- Wickr Me uses a military-grade encryption algorithm that utilizes AES 256, ECDH 521, RSA 4096 TLD encryption standards;
- You can manually set timers for automatic message deletion;
- Wickr Me is an independent, fully-featured private IM you can download free of charge. However, the app has paid analogs for professional and corporate clients, Wickr Pro and Wickr Enterprise, that offer enhanced functionality.
2. Keybase
Keybase is a relatively new private chat app with open source code utilizing public-key encryption. The app can be downloaded for free from the App Store and offers a clean and simple user interface, which is a definite bonus for those who don’t like unnecessary bells and whistles.
Another great thing about this app is that it can support conversations between people from any part of the world without using phone numbers or emails. Considering it’s a free app, Keybase has decent functionality and has no annoying ads. For example, you can use Tor’s anonymity function in the command line, as well as hashtags and ats (mentions). You can create groups and get many other interesting options for private messaging.
- Simple and sleek UI with well-organized panels, tabs, animations, and settings;
- Encrypted voice calls;
- Open course code allows checking the app for vulnerabilities. Developers welcome any contributions on GitHub;
- Thanks to Tor’s anonymity algorithms, users can easily protect their identity;
- Keybase users can anonymously chat with any Facebook, Twitter, GitHub, Reddit, or Hacker News users;
- The app automatically synchronizes data on all devices and supports media attachments.
3. Wire
Wire company was founded in 2012 by former Skype developers and under the support of Skype co-founder. The first version of the Wire app saw the light of day two years later, in 2014. And while at that point the developers spoke of the incredible clarity of voice communication as its main advantage, later the app got the long-expected end-to-end encryption. Now all video calls and messages get encrypted so that only a sender and a recipient can gain access to confidential information.
When it comes to functionality, Wire has a pretty standard set of options. Text messaging, voice calls, media files transfer. There is also an option of group chats and group calls for up to five participants.
- Wire is a pretty simple app with enhanced functionality that doesn’t drain your phone’s battery;
- All data is encrypted; there is an option to use fingerprint as a security key;
- All communications history gets deleted when you access the app from a different device;
- Although there is an option of authorization with a phone number, which raises some doubts about security and privacy, it’s not a requirement;
- You can access the app only by entering a password;
- No pesky ads.
4. Signal
Signal is one of the most popular and, as its developers claim, one of the most well-protected private messengers you can download today absolutely free of charge. Like many other independent private messengers, it has an open-source code, which allowed IT professionals from all over the world to test its reliability and confirm that it’s as secure as possible.
Signal utilizes the ZRTP encryption protocol and an AES algorithm with a 128-bit key. It might be hard for laymen to understand what that means, but professionals agree that this kind of security is very hard to bypass even using special equipment.
- You can use Signal both for text messaging and for voice and video calls, with lots of options for security enhancement;
- The app doesn’t allow taking screenshots by default (but you can disable this function in the settings);
- You can request a confirmation of the identity of your recipients (to make sure that your encryption key wasn’t replaced by another person’s key). Verification is available only during online communication with your recipient;
It should be noted that Signal requires using your phone number during registration and requests access to your contact list. Even though the app’s security protocols are quite serious, this lack of anonymity raises some doubts.
5. Confide
Confide is one of the less-known private messengers, but it doesn’t make it less interesting. One of its curious features is the combination of end-to-end encryption and an unusual system of hiding messages right on the phone screen. When you get a message, all you can see is a bunch of rectangular shapes. To read it, you must run your finger over the screen.
While Confide brings privacy and security to a whole new level, it’s hardly intended for a mass user and is more of a niche product. Because it’s not very convenient to use during active messaging and chatting, it’s perfect for sending short secret messages when you want to keep your privacy.
- Confide allows sending text messages and files in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF formats. Aside from that, you can also send media files;
- All messages get completely deleted right after you read them; data isn’t stored anywhere, whether it’s your device or servers;
- Like many other private messengers, Confide has a screenshot protection feature. However, it goes further than just preventing taking them. Every time someone tries to take a screenshot of your message, it immediately gets deleted and the sender gets notified about it;
- The app has access to your phone camera and can take photos;
- Confide can be integrated with useful services like Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive and others;
- The app is completely free and has no ads;
- All communication happens using emails; you never use phone numbers from your phone’s contact list.
Conclusion
Of course, this list of private messengers that offer anonymous communication and high-level security is far from being complete. Privacy and security of personal data are in high demand nowadays and application developers hasten to satisfy this demand.
In case texting that’s truly private is of uttermost importance to you, I recommend that you do your research. Find out what kind of encryption protocols and algorithms are being used and how private texting apps utilize encryption.
But no matter which application you end up with, good luck!