Signal Alternatives for Private, Encrypted Messaging

Signal still works. It is free, run by an independent nonprofit, and its apps cover Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, Mac and Linux, per signal.org. The encryption has not been broken. In 2026 attackers posed as Signal Support, tricked politicians, soldiers and journalists into handing over login details, and took over their accounts. Signal said on April 27 that new defences would follow, as reported by The Star. Germany's Bundestag president then urged MPs to use Wire instead.

The phone number is the other common reason to look elsewhere. Signal still requires one to sign up. Usernames, added in February 2024, only hide your number from people who have not saved it. Five of the nine picks below need no number and no email.

Telegram is often suggested here, and it is not a match. Its FAQ says regular chats and all groups use server-client encryption, and only one-to-one Secret Chats are end-to-end. For channels and big groups, see our Telegram alternatives. Prices below come from each vendor's own page or app store listing as of November 6, 2026.

Our method is on How we review tools.

Quick comparison

Threema

For Signal's polish without giving out a phone number, Threema is the closest like-for-like replacement. Each account is a random Threema ID, and linking a number or email is optional, per the FAQ. The apps are open source, and the company says its headquarters and servers stay in Switzerland.

You pay once, up front, and there is no subscription after that. Ownership passed from Afinum to Comitis Capital at the start of 2026, and Threema says its management and strategy are unchanged. If your phone is offline, messages wait on the server for up to 14 days.

Best for: People who want a polished app with no phone number and are happy to pay once.

Pricing:

• Threema (private): 6.00 CHF, EUR or USD one-time; the pricing page says the price depends on the store and country
• US App Store: $6.99
• Threema Work: 3.00 (Core) or 5.00 (Professional) per user per month, billed yearly

Watch out for:

• One Threema ID cannot run on two phones at once. The desktop app connects to your phone, and a desktop beta that works with the phone offline is still in testing.
• Licences do not move between app stores, so going from Android to iPhone means buying the app again.

Official site: Threema. Our listing: Threema.

SimpleX Chat

SimpleX Chat removes identity further than anything else on this list. There is no user ID at all, not even a random one, so you connect by passing a link or QR code. The code is AGPLv3 on GitHub, and each chat runs a double ratchet with a post-quantum key exchange on every ratchet step.

Trail of Bits has reviewed it twice, in October 2022 and July 2024. Version 6.5 added Channels in April 2026, and in August the company opened equity crowdfunding on Wefunder. Venture capital and private investors fund it, so the business model is still being worked out.

Best for: Users who want no account identifier at all and can live with rough edges.

Pricing:

• Free
• Optional Supporter badges (v7.1 beta, September 2026) raise the file limit from 1 GB to 2 GB and keep files for 7 days; the announcement gives no standalone badge price

Watch out for:

• A profile cannot live on two devices independently. The desktop app borrows your phone's profile, and both must be on the same network, per the FAQ.
• Free files can be received only for 2 days after sending, and the same FAQ admits that iOS notifications are hard to get right in a decentralised app.

Official site: SimpleX Chat.

Element

Matrix is an open standard where anyone can run a server and servers talk to each other, and Element is its main app. New rooms are encrypted by default, according to the Matrix FAQ, using the Olm and Megolm ratchets. Large group rooms, threads and community spaces are where Element does more than Signal.

Governments and armies use it for the same reason. The Element homepage shows NATO, the Bundeswehr and HM Government among its users. You can sign up free on a public server or host your own. The download page offers both the newer Element X and the classic app.

Best for: Groups and communities that want encrypted rooms and the option to run their own server.

Pricing:

• Free for individual use
• Community (self-hosted, 1 to 100 users, non-professional): free
• Enterprise: priced per seat per month from 100 users, no public price

Watch out for:

• Your homeserver stores your message history, account data and each room's member list. Messages are encrypted, but the server still holds that member list.
• Public rooms are usually left unencrypted. The Matrix FAQ says there is no value in encrypting a room anyone can join.

Official site: Element.

Wire

Wire signs you up with an email address, and that address is not visible to other users. Bundestag president Julia Klöckner cited exactly that when she pointed MPs to Wire after the Signal phishing attacks. Germany's BSI has approved a government build, Wire Bund, for restricted official data until the end of 2028.

One-to-one messages use Proteus, Wire's own protocol based on Signal's, and paid plans with MLS allow groups of 2,000. Clients are GPL and the server is AGPL. Wire is owned by Schwarz Digits, part of the retail group behind Lidl.

Best for: Small teams and individuals who want email signup and a European vendor.

Pricing:

• Personal account: free
• Wire for Free (teams): up to 5 people, 8 devices, groups up to 500
• Wire for SMB: €7.45 per person per month billed yearly, or €8.94 monthly
• Enterprise: custom price

Watch out for:

• Wire's servers keep each user's contact list until the account is deleted. Wire confirmed this in 2017 and said it is needed to sync devices.
• The free team plan has no conference calls with more than two people, per the pricing FAQ.

Official site: Wire. Our listing: Wire.

Olvid

Olvid has no central directory of users. It asks for no phone number, email or name, and it never requests your address book, according to olvid.io. Trust between contacts replaces the server-side list that Signal and WhatsApp keep.

France's ANSSI awarded it a CSPN security certificate in 2021. In November 2023 a circular from the prime minister told government members to drop WhatsApp and similar apps for Olvid. Apps cover iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac and Windows, and devices stay in sync without a SIM card.

Best for: People who want no phone number and no user directory, backed by a state security certificate.

Pricing:

• Free app with in-app purchases
• Olvid+ subscription: the US App Store lists $4.49 and $44.90 (Individual) and $5.99 and $59.90 (Family) without naming billing periods

Watch out for:

• Some calling sits behind the paywall. An App Store review from January 2024 complains that video is a paying feature, and a developer reply on Google Play says receiving calls is free.
• The client apps are AGPL, but the server software is proprietary.

Official site: Olvid.

Delta Chat

Delta Chat runs on email standards. Messages pass through chatmail relays that hold them only until delivery, and your profile and groups stay on your devices, per the FAQ. No phone number is asked for, and the default relays refuse unencrypted messages.

Encryption is a subset of OpenPGP, with keys set up automatically by Autocrypt. For a small project the audit list is long: Include Security in 2019 and 2020, Cure53 in 2023, and ETH Zurich's applied cryptography group in 2024. Public grants and donations pay for development, not venture capital.

Best for: People who want a free, audited messenger with no investors to answer to.

Pricing:

• Free and open source, both apps and relay server

Watch out for:

• No forward secrecy yet. The FAQ says it comes with Autocrypt v2, scheduled for full rollout in 2026.
• There is no web client.

Official site: Delta Chat.

WhatsApp

If your contacts will not install anything new, WhatsApp is the fallback. Personal messages, calls, photos and videos are end-to-end encrypted, and not even WhatsApp can read them, per its privacy page. Username reservations opened in June 2026, so strangers will be able to reach you without seeing your number once the feature reaches your country.

The content is protected; the data around it is not. The privacy policy lists usage and log data, IP address and device details, and says information is shared with other Meta companies, including for ads across Meta products. Our WhatsApp alternatives page covers other options.

Best for: Reaching people who already use it, when message content is what you need to protect.

Pricing:

• Free

Watch out for:

• Meta announced ads in the Updates tab (Status and Channels) in June 2025. It says personal messages, calls and groups are not used to target them.

Official site: WhatsApp. Our listing: WhatsApp.

Session

Session routes every message through an onion network of community-run nodes, so the server that receives a message never sees the sender's IP address, per the FAQ. Accounts need no phone number or email. A Swiss foundation, the Session Technology Foundation, looks after the project.

Groups are capped at 100 members. Session Pro adds 10,000-character messages, unlimited pins and animated profile pictures, with larger files and bigger groups marked as coming soon.

Best for: People who want to hide their IP address and identity from the network itself.

Pricing:

• Free
• Session Pro: from $2.99 per month

Watch out for:

• No perfect forward secrecy today. The FAQ says it returns in Session Protocol V2, which is still in development.
• Funding is thin. A donation appeal says Session would not exist without support, and that current donations cover critical infrastructure and a smaller team into 2027.

Official site: Session.

Briar

Briar keeps working when the internet does not. Phones sync directly over Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, or over Tor when online, with no central server, per briarproject.org. Nothing else on this list can pass messages between two phones in a room with no signal.

In practice it is an Android app. The site links only to Google Play and F-Droid, and the desktop beta's last release, 0.6.0, dates from August 2023.

Best for: Android users who need to message nearby people with no internet connection.

Pricing:

• Free and open source

Watch out for:

• Briar entered maintenance mode on July 9, 2026, with only essential security updates and bug fixes for now.
• The same post lists high battery use, unreliable background running on Android, and no account backup or file attachments.

Official site: Briar.

How to choose

When to stay with Signal

Stay on Signal if your contacts already use it and a phone number at signup does not bother you. It is free, nonprofit and open source, and in September 2025 it added secure backups: text and the last 45 days of media for free, or 100 GB for $1.99 a month. The 2026 takeovers depended on users giving away codes and PINs, and Signal says its staff will never ask for either.

Frequently asked questions