Every since Edward Snowden leaked details of the US Government’s surveillance activities, Internet users have been looking for a secure way to communicate. Although services like Apple’s iMessage, and BlackBerry’s BBM claim to be completely secure, it seems as though the NSA may have a way around their encryption, making your private communications not so private.
Wickr is an app that promises to keep you completely secure, and anonymous with perfect privacy. Like Threema, Wickr claims to have bullet proof crypto that keeps your messages totally secure. Wickr claims on their website:
The difference between Wickr and similar apps is you can set a time for your message to expire. If you put a limit of 5 seconds on your message, the message will expire 5 seconds after the user reads it. This allows you to be sure your message is not saved.
Wickr is also like a Snap Chat app for adults. Wickr allows you to send audio, video, and picture messages,which you can expire as well. Keep in mind, there is nothing preventing the user at the other end to take a picture of their phone with another camera. Users can also take a screen capture, although Wickr makes that pretty difficult. You have to keep your finger pressed on the screen to see the photo. As soon as you lift your finger, the photo goes away.
Nico Sell, a Wickr co-founder, told Mashable, Wickr “is really meant to democratize privacy and bring NSA top-secret level encryption to the masses.”
Wickr encrypts your message on your phone before it leaves. Once it leaves your phone it remains encrypted even on Wickr’s server. Only the receiver can decrypt the message when it arrives on their phone. Wickr says they do not keep any messages on their servers so they cannot retrieve any messages even if compelled to do so. Keep in mind, we have no way of knowing if a government could force Wickr to change their code without notice to their users, so you still have to trust Wickr to some degree. I remember when Hushmail claimed they could not decrypt messages on their servers, only to later find out the government forced them to retrieve passwords from it’s users in certain cases.
For security reasons, Wickr will not even let you retrieve your password. If they let you retrieve it, that means someone else could retrieve it and possibly decrypt your messages. If you forget your password, you will have to sign up for a new account.
The Wickr UI is unlike other messaging apps. They have done a lot to improve it as it was cumbersome in previous versions. The current version presents a lock icon for every message you receive. Once you tap the lock icon, the expiration clock starts ticking. If you are having an extended conversation with someone, tapping the clock icon for every single message can be a pain so I wish there was a way around that. Perhaps simply starting the clock from the time the app hits the foreground would be better. Some messages might go unseen if someone leaves the app running, but it would sure be easier to manage.
My suggestion to Wickr would be to add a simple 4 digit PIN as an option. If you choose to use the PIN you would be able to not have the lock icons. You would also be able to bypass your long password. Lastpass has a 4 digit PIN option that works well.
I prefer Threema’s UI when compared to Wickr, but Wickr’s message expiration feature is very handy in certain situations. It’s also fun to send audio files through Wickr.
There is so much more to Wickr than I have mentioned here. They use military grade encryption, and even have a secure wipe feature for your phone. To learn more, check out their website at the link below.
Wickr is currently available for iOS and Android so check the respective app stores for the download.
Wickr is an app that promises to keep you completely secure, and anonymous with perfect privacy. Like Threema, Wickr claims to have bullet proof crypto that keeps your messages totally secure. Wickr claims on their website:
Wickr’s mission is to provide secure communications that Leave No Trace.
People are being tracked online and their data is being sold in ways they do not understand by numerous governments and corporations. Wickr flips messaging on its head, giving control to the sender instead of the receiver (or servers in between). After all, who doesn’t want control of the messages and media they share with others? Security has never been so easy!
People are being tracked online and their data is being sold in ways they do not understand by numerous governments and corporations. Wickr flips messaging on its head, giving control to the sender instead of the receiver (or servers in between). After all, who doesn’t want control of the messages and media they share with others? Security has never been so easy!
The difference between Wickr and similar apps is you can set a time for your message to expire. If you put a limit of 5 seconds on your message, the message will expire 5 seconds after the user reads it. This allows you to be sure your message is not saved.
Wickr is also like a Snap Chat app for adults. Wickr allows you to send audio, video, and picture messages,which you can expire as well. Keep in mind, there is nothing preventing the user at the other end to take a picture of their phone with another camera. Users can also take a screen capture, although Wickr makes that pretty difficult. You have to keep your finger pressed on the screen to see the photo. As soon as you lift your finger, the photo goes away.
Nico Sell, a Wickr co-founder, told Mashable, Wickr “is really meant to democratize privacy and bring NSA top-secret level encryption to the masses.”
Wickr encrypts your message on your phone before it leaves. Once it leaves your phone it remains encrypted even on Wickr’s server. Only the receiver can decrypt the message when it arrives on their phone. Wickr says they do not keep any messages on their servers so they cannot retrieve any messages even if compelled to do so. Keep in mind, we have no way of knowing if a government could force Wickr to change their code without notice to their users, so you still have to trust Wickr to some degree. I remember when Hushmail claimed they could not decrypt messages on their servers, only to later find out the government forced them to retrieve passwords from it’s users in certain cases.
For security reasons, Wickr will not even let you retrieve your password. If they let you retrieve it, that means someone else could retrieve it and possibly decrypt your messages. If you forget your password, you will have to sign up for a new account.
The Wickr UI is unlike other messaging apps. They have done a lot to improve it as it was cumbersome in previous versions. The current version presents a lock icon for every message you receive. Once you tap the lock icon, the expiration clock starts ticking. If you are having an extended conversation with someone, tapping the clock icon for every single message can be a pain so I wish there was a way around that. Perhaps simply starting the clock from the time the app hits the foreground would be better. Some messages might go unseen if someone leaves the app running, but it would sure be easier to manage.
My suggestion to Wickr would be to add a simple 4 digit PIN as an option. If you choose to use the PIN you would be able to not have the lock icons. You would also be able to bypass your long password. Lastpass has a 4 digit PIN option that works well.
I prefer Threema’s UI when compared to Wickr, but Wickr’s message expiration feature is very handy in certain situations. It’s also fun to send audio files through Wickr.
There is so much more to Wickr than I have mentioned here. They use military grade encryption, and even have a secure wipe feature for your phone. To learn more, check out their website at the link below.
Wickr is currently available for iOS and Android so check the respective app stores for the download.