The Best Private Messaging Apps for 2025

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It's not fun to think about, but your personal information is big business. There are people out there who are willing to buy your private chat logs, photos, or videos to use in identity theft schemes, scams driven by generative AI deep fake technology, or good old-fashioned . You should do what you can to protect your data, starting with communicating via a secure private messenger. PCMag's cybersecurity team has reviewed popular private messaging apps for over a decade. Signal is our top pick overall, thanks to its uncompromising privacy, but other good options exist. Here's how some of the most popular privacy-focused encrypted messaging services measure up as we test the ease of use, social features, and video and voice chat so that you can pick the best one for you.

Why Should I Use a Private Messaging App?

Privacy and security are terms often used interchangeably (especially in cybersecurity product marketing lingo), but we use them to define very different things. When we talk about privacy, we're referring to information that can be used to track or identify you, like photos, conversations, your location, or the names of your family and friends. When we mention security, we're talking about whether you or your data is vulnerable to attack or theft. We make this distinction because many factors can erode your privacy without necessarily affecting your security.

You should care about protecting your privacy because many people are keen to harvest and sell your data. You should care about the chat app's security because you don't want the app to get hacked, leading to criminals leaking your private chats, photos, or videos.

Private Messaging App Security

The best services use a process called end-to-end encryption (E2EE), where messages are encrypted in such a way that only the intended recipients—not the messaging company and not anyone spying on your activity—can see the message's contents. The encrypted messaging apps in this roundup all use E2EE, but they're not all implemented the same way. Briar and Session use a decentralized network to receive and send user messages. This is great because it means user data isn't stored on one central server that can be attacked or infiltrated. These two ultra-secure messaging apps also disable in-app screenshots and recording for all users by default, though you can turn off that setting in Session's Settings menu.

The private messaging apps with more social components, such as Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp, offer fewer default security measures but offer options for increasing your security on the platform. Signal and WhatsApp use E2EE by default for all person-to-person and group chats, as well as voice and video. Both also use the Signal Protocol, which has been evaluated and implemented by Google, Meta (read: Facebook), and others. We recommend Signal because it always uses E2EE encryption; WhatsApp and Telegram do, too, but with some exceptions.

If you message a business account on WhatsApp, your message contents are not encrypted. Business accounts are clearly marked. Plus, the expectation of privacy when communicating with a business like Big Max's Kombucha Haus isn't the same as you'd expect when chatting with your spouse.

Telegram's E2EE implementation is a different story. With Telegram, only Secret Chats are end-to-end encrypted. All other chats—normal one-to-one, group, and all others—are still encrypted but done so that Telegram holds the keys. That means the company could potentially read your messages or be compelled to hand over your conversations to law enforcement. Telegram once said it wouldn't do this, but the company has recently changed its stance on sharing data with the authorities. Either way, we prefer tried-and-true E2EE implementation over homegrown encryption methods.

Which Messenger Protects Your Privacy?

Everyone has a different reason for using a private messaging app, so we've included apps for many use cases. There are E2EE apps on this list with social media components such as broadcasting, audio and video conferencing, and new contact discoverability. These apps tend to require more customer data, making them less private by default. There are also apps on the list that let you be truly anonymous, so you don't have to provide any personal data to chat with people you know. Below is a look at what level of privacy to expect from each kind of app:

Messaging With Hybrid Apps

Signal, Telegram, and WhatsApp are all messaging apps that contain social media components. These features, while fun, can muddy the privacy waters because they need data to help users find new people to interact with. Of the three "private-yet-social" messaging apps, Signal appears to be the most trustworthy, as it's a free app run by a registered nonprofit that pledges never to sell, rent, or lease customer data.

Telegram's website has published several commitments to user privacy over the years, but it's run by a for-profit organization that recently rolled out questionable beta features to Android users. Experts say the platform's lax rules enforcement makes it a hotbed for scams and other cybercrimes.

WhatsApp's biggest privacy problem is its reputation. Facebook purchased the app before it became Meta and thus shares the parent company's scandalous past. To its credit, WhatsApp is open about its relationship with Meta and goes into detail about what data it shares with its parent company. Basically, your messages (except those to businesses) are between you and your contacts, but some identifying information—including IP addresses—may be shared.

Each of the three apps requires a phone number to use, and all ask for access to your contacts to find your existing friends. That means none of them is suitable for anonymous chatting. Signal is the most usable while sharing the least information, while Telegram and WhatsApp require access to your contact list for full-featured texting. Signal and WhatsApp hash your contact list information, so they never hold the actual phone numbers of your friends.

In testing, we were impressed with Telegram's Secret Chats feature, which blocks device-level screenshots and screen recording. Signal and WhatsApp have similar features for users' regular chats. All of the apps allow users to customize their level of privacy on the app in the Settings menu.

Texting On Anonymous Messaging Apps

Going a step further in the privacy department are apps that allow you to be truly anonymous, such as Briar and Session. These apps are E2EE and open-source and don't collect user data at sign-up. Just create a username-based login and add people you know to start chatting. Briar and Session also don't request access to your devices' Contact list. That said, these apps are meant to be used by people who are avoiding surveillance, like government agents or journalists, so there aren't a lot of "fun features" or options for discovering new users.

Can Law Enforcement Read Your Chats?

The bad news is that law enforcement has many avenues to obtain your private conversations. The good news is that in 2021, an FBI document detailed exactly how well Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp, and others stand up to these methods. The feds say they can't get the contents of messages from Signal and Telegram (at least, not without the company's help), which is great.

That said, law enforcement can obtain a surprising amount of information on WhatsApp users. If those users back up WhatsApp to iCloud, the feds can simply grab their unencrypted messages. WhatsApp suggests its users deactivate iCloud backups.

The same FBI document mentioned above covers some privacy information. The document notes that Telegram might hand over IP address information and phone numbers of confirmed terrorists. Signal has no such information to offer (although Signal does require users' phone numbers to function). The FBI can apparently obtain some information on address book contacts with a court order and can use a pen register to obtain source and destination data (but not message contents) for messages every 15 minutes.

Which Messaging App Is the Easiest to Use?

If you're familiar with text messaging, all three encrypted messaging apps listed here are easy to adopt. The user interfaces have familiar speech bubble text messages, and you can customize the apps' appearances in the settings.

The most popular app is WhatsApp. Just about anyone you've ever wanted to talk to is on the platform (and everyone you hoped you'd never see again). The hardest part of using the other apps on this list will be finding other users to chat with.

The apps are pretty fun to use, too. Signal offers light-hearted features like Stories, reaction GIFs, and stickers. Telegram and WhatsApp have had these perks for a while, helping make them popular. Telegram started monetizing some features, putting access to certain emoji or usernames behind a paywall, which is not ideal. WhatsApp uses generative-AI-powered tools to edit your avatar and you can add interesting filters or backdrops for your video calls.

Which Messaging App Is the Most Social?

Telegram and WhatsApp offer full social experiences, letting you easily create group and private chats using a wide network of contacts already on the app. Popularity comes at a price, though, as Telegram has recently made headlines for instances of misinformation being generated and spread widely via its vast network of group chats.

We like that Telegram makes it fairly easy to find new people to chat with, but many of its public spaces are clogged with scammers and spam posts. That's because Telegram operates more like a social media platform than a private messaging service. Unlike traditional social networking forums, the content moderation on Telegram is left up to individual group moderators or channel owners.

The content found in the Telegram group channels can range from family-friendly hobbyists chatting about shared interests to explicit or violent media posted among strangers. In other words, it's a good idea to use caution when communicating or joining a new group on Telegram or any other private messaging app.

Which Messaging App Has the Best Voice and Video Calling?

Each service makes voice and video calling tools easy to find and use. However, it's hard to say which is more reliable since it depends heavily on network conditions and individual hardware. Signal and WhatsApp extend their end-to-end encryption to voice and video calls, while Telegram's encryption caveats extend to video and voice calling.

Each service supports 30–40 participants—more than enough for a family or small group. Telegram is probably your best bet if you want to build a following. The service lets you create groups of up to 200,000 people. That said, established social media and streaming platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube are probably better for established or aspiring influencers.

A recent update to Signal makes its video conferencing capabilities a bit more in line with the likes of Zoom, Google Meet, or other video conferencing software for large-scale ad-hoc video calls. You can now create a link to a Signal video call and share it with anyone you want to join instead of starting a group call and sending out invitations.

Which Messaging App Is Most Secure?

The apps on this list assure users that you can rely on them for fun, safe, secure, and social messaging, but only one can fully deliver on that promise. Editors' Choice winner Signal uses tried-and-tested technology to protect your messages from spies, law enforcement, and even Signal itself. Its nonprofit status removes any incentive for the company to harvest and sell your data, protecting your privacy. It also compares favorably with the competition in terms of entertainment and remaining easy to use.

Max Eddy contributed to this article.