800 Points
You should definitely use open-source, encrypted messengers such as Briar, Signal, Threema, Element or SimpleX. Avoid insecure commercial messengers such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Co.

More information

If you are unsure which messengers are good or if you need arguments to convince family and friends, you should definitely take a look at Kuketz's messenger matrix. There you can easily compare the individual messengers according to functions and security aspects. Also bear in mind that the police in some countries already operate chat apps themselves to make it easier to obtain investigation data.

Particularly important for the following target groups:

  • Journalism, criticism of the regime and exile
  • Protests and demonstrations
  • Direct actions

Other categories

  • Important basics
  • Behavior-based risks
  • Apps and operating system
  • Rather simple

Sources and further links

  1. Courts may use FBI cryptochats, spiegel.de, (de), 2025-01-09
  2. Telegram delivers data to investigators, tagesschau.de, (de), 2024-10-08
  3. Telegram: Not suitable for confidential chats, nd-aktuell.de, (de), 2024-10-07
  4. WhatsApp? No, thank you., netzpolitik.org, (de), 2024-10-01
  5. Telegram’s peer-to-peer SMS login service is a privacy nightmare, techcrunch.com, (en), 2024-03-26
  6. Signal will soon allow you to hide your phone number, netzpolitik.org, (de), 2024-02-21
  7. Whatsapp lets other users access device information, golem.de, (de), 2024-01-18
  8. Messenger matrix, messenger-matrix.de, (de)
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