Private and open-source alternatives to iMessage
15 messengers rated against the same public privacy criteria as iMessage (Apple Messages), with our picks first.
Why look for an alternative?
- Open source: no. Closed source.
- No trackers or telemetry: partial. No third-party trackers in the app, and sharing device analytics with Apple is opt-in. Apple web pages load Apple's own analytics (ac-analytics, sent to metrics.apple.com) by default.
- Independent audit: no. No independent audit is published; Apple has only published commissioned formal analyses of the PQ3 protocol.
- No phone number needed: partial. Creating an Apple Account requires verifying a phone number, but iMessage can be used with an email address so the number is not shown to contacts.
- Metadata protection: no. Apple's servers route messages by sender and recipient and may keep the phone numbers and email addresses a user looks up for up to 30 days.
- Decentralized: no. One central service run by Apple.
The alternatives
Briar Grade A
Peer-to-peer encrypted messenger for Android and desktop that syncs over Tor, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Messages, forums and blogs are stored only on users' devices.
Briar scores 94 out of 100 (grade A) on the messengers criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed, metadata protection and decentralized.
Ricochet Refresh Grade A
Desktop instant messenger that runs each user as a Tor onion service and connects contacts peer to peer, hiding identity, IP address and metadata. Maintained by Blueprint for Free Speech.
Ricochet Refresh scores 94 out of 100 (grade A) on the messengers criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed, metadata protection and decentralized.
Session Grade A
End-to-end encrypted messenger that uses a random Account ID instead of a phone number and sends messages through onion routing over a decentralized network of community-operated nodes. Stewarded by the Session Technology Foundation in Switzerland.
Based in Switzerland. Session scores 94 out of 100 (grade A) on the messengers criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed, metadata protection and decentralized.
SimpleX Grade A
End-to-end encrypted messenger that has no user identifiers of any kind, not even random ones. Messages pass through relay servers that anyone can run.
Based in the United Kingdom (Five Eyes). SimpleX scores 94 out of 100 (grade A) on the messengers criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed, metadata protection and decentralized.
Berty Grade B
Peer-to-peer, end-to-end encrypted messenger built on IPFS by the French non-profit Berty Technologies. It needs no phone number or email and can exchange messages offline over Bluetooth and local networks.
Based in France (Nine Eyes). Berty scores 89 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed, metadata protection and decentralized.
Cwtch Grade B
Decentralized, metadata-resistant messenger from the non-profit Open Privacy Research Society. Contacts talk peer to peer over Tor onion services, and optional group chats use untrusted servers that anyone can run.
Based in Canada (Five Eyes). Cwtch scores 89 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed, metadata protection and decentralized.
Quiet Grade B
Peer-to-peer team chat, similar to Slack, that runs without servers: community members' devices sync messages directly over Tor. The developers warn it is not yet audited.
Quiet scores 89 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 7 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed, metadata protection and decentralized.
Conversations Grade B
XMPP (Jabber) client for Android that works with any standard XMPP server, with OMEMO end-to-end encryption on by default for one-to-one and private group chats.
Conversations scores 83 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 6 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed and decentralized.
Threema Grade B
Paid end-to-end encrypted messenger from Switzerland that works with a random Threema ID instead of a phone number. The apps are open source; the server is proprietary.
Based in Switzerland. Threema scores 83 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 5 of 8 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, independent audit, end-to-end encrypted by default and no phone number needed.
Tox & qTox client Grade B
Peer-to-peer encrypted messaging protocol with no central servers, and qTox, its desktop client for chat, voice, video and file transfer. qTox is now maintained by the TokTok project after the original repository was archived.
Tox & qTox client scores 83 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 6 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed and decentralized.
Olvid Grade B
End-to-end encrypted messenger from France that needs no phone number, email or other personal data; contacts are added by exchanging keys. Certified under the French ANSSI CSPN scheme.
Based in France (Nine Eyes). Olvid scores 81 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 5 of 8 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed and metadata protection.
Dino Grade B
Desktop XMPP (Jabber) client for Linux built with GTK, with group chats, file transfers, and voice and video calls. OMEMO end-to-end encryption is on by default for one-to-one and private group chats.
Dino scores 78 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 6 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default, no phone number needed and decentralized.
Molly Grade B
Independent fork of the Signal Android app that connects to the Signal network and adds database encryption with a passphrase, UnifiedPush notifications and a Molly-FOSS build without proprietary Google components.
Molly scores 78 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 5 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default and metadata protection.
OpenPGP Grade B
Open standard for public-key encryption and signing of messages and files, defined in RFC 9580. It adds end-to-end encryption to existing channels such as email, through implementations like GnuPG.
OpenPGP scores 78 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 5 of 7 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, no phone number needed and decentralized.
Signal Grade B
End-to-end encrypted messenger for text, voice and video calls, and groups, built on the Signal Protocol. Run by the non-profit Signal Foundation.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Signal scores 78 out of 100 (grade B) on the messengers criteria. It meets 5 of 8 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, end-to-end encrypted by default and metadata protection.