Messengers
Berty privacy rating
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.
Summary
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. It does not meet independent audit. It is based in France: Nine Eyes member; EU member (GDPR).
Score 89 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
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Yes
Open source Weight 3 of 3
Is all the source code needed to run the product public?
Dual-licensed under Apache-2.0 and MIT.
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Yes
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
Exodus finds no trackers in the Android app.
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Yes
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Developed by a non-profit organization that does not sell a product, with no ads.
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No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
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Yes
End-to-end encrypted by default Weight 3 of 3
Are all chats, including groups, end-to-end encrypted by default?
All conversations, including groups, are end-to-end encrypted by default.
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Yes
No phone number needed Weight 2 of 3
Can an account be created without a phone number?
No phone number or email is required; identity is based on public-key cryptography.
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Yes
Metadata protection Weight 2 of 3
Does the service minimize who-talks-to-whom metadata (for example sealed sender or no user identifiers)?
There is no central server, rendezvous points rotate regularly, and users join each group with a group-specific identity.
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Yes
Decentralized Weight 1 of 3
Can people run their own server or talk peer to peer?
Peer to peer over IPFS, with optional offline transports such as Bluetooth; anyone can run a replication node.