
Ask HN: Best encrypted messaging app with mobile and native clients? - mellamoyo
I&#x27;ve been looking through different messaging apps lately (iMessage, WhatsApp, Telegram, Wire, etc.), looking for one that has end to end encryption as well as native clients for mobile and desktop.<p>So far, I haven&#x27;t found anything that meets both major requirements, everything has a drawback. I want to like Signal, but the lack of desktop clients is a major drawback (and the Chrome extension isn&#x27;t quite there yet--no iOS support, weird firewall requirements).<p>So what are you all using? Are you happy with what you&#x27;re using?
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zurn
Terminology nit: s/encrypted/secure/ \- lots of systems that have encryption
are pretty insecure.

As to the question, how about OTR+XMPP or Signal. Signal desktop is in beta. I
don't think you need to worry about running the desktop Chrome extension on
iOS since there's a native iOS app too?

~~~
mellamoyo
I'll have to look into OTR+XMPP. I was hoping for something straightforward
for non-technical folks to use as well. Any recommendations on clients?

What I meant by iOS/Chrome is that you currently can't setup the desktop
(Chrome) app with an iOS device, it's Android only.

~~~
cyphar
OTR has issues in instant messaging (if the messages arrive out-of-order you
have to restart the session). Also, OTR's security is session based while
Axolotl's is message based (Axolotl is an improvement on OTR that Signal
uses).

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zbuf
We ssh into a box and run unix "talk" ...

More seriously, is there a reason for native? Just it's a fairly arbitrary
request without more detail, since a network connection is needed anyway. eg.
WhatsApp web client is good enough that it 'feels' native.

------
pullany
I'm very happy with Threema (even though there's no Desktop client yet), and
I'd certainly never use Signal because it's backed by the US government:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8106721](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8106721)

~~~
mauropolli
+1 for Threema. The servers are located in Switzerland, it's a good iOS
citizen with a clean interface, and it offers some unique features (e.g.,
polling).

------
dbof
Signal now has a desktop version which runs with Google Chrome:
[https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal-
desktop/](https://whispersystems.org/blog/signal-desktop/)

------
implicit_none
SpiderOak is currently developing "Semaphor"; an end-to-end, zero-knowledge
collaboration platform with native clients on mobile and desktop:
[https://spideroak.com/solutions/semaphor](https://spideroak.com/solutions/semaphor)

------
threesixandnine
Signal?

------
ryck
What's wrong with Telegram?

~~~
mellamoyo
No private chats for Windows/Linux.

~~~
skrowl
I'd also recommend Telegram.

Whether or not secret (end-to-end encrypted) chats are implemented is up to
the client's author.

Not having secret chats in Telegram Desktop was a decision of the author -
[https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/issues/5](https://github.com/telegramdesktop/tdesktop/issues/5)

They work in cutegram (qt based client. OS X, Linux, Windows, OpenBSD, Arch
AUR, etc) -
[http://aseman.co/en/products/cutegram/](http://aseman.co/en/products/cutegram/)

They work in the pidgin plugin (which works on all of the platforms supported
by Pidgin) - [https://github.com/majn/telegram-
purple#readme](https://github.com/majn/telegram-purple#readme)

They also work in telegram CLI (which many bots are based on) -
[https://github.com/vysheng/tg](https://github.com/vysheng/tg)

------
blindrooster
self hosted IRC

~~~
skrowl
Since OP mentioned mobile, which IRC client would you recommend on Android.
Maintaining a persistent connection is battery draining. Weechat +
[https://www.glowing-bear.org](https://www.glowing-bear.org) is what I've been
using but you don't get notifications that way.

------
Synaesthesia
iMessage has end-to-end encryption.

~~~
skrowl
No mobile client (for Android or Windows Phone), no desktop client (for
Windows or Linux).

