{"id":1228,"date":"2014-08-27T08:58:29","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T08:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.knicket.com\/magazine\/?p=1228"},"modified":"2014-08-20T14:42:59","modified_gmt":"2014-08-20T14:42:59","slug":"safety-behind-messaging-apps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/en.knicket.com\/magazine\/safety-behind-messaging-apps\/","title":{"rendered":"The Safety behind Messaging Apps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are many messaging apps out there that use Wi-Fi and allow users to save money on SMS. These apps have been gaining in popularity for international communication, or users without unlimited SMS in their monthly phone contracts. The apps are available for a multitude of operating systems and carriers including Apple, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phones, and Nokia. Altogether, these messaging apps seem to be an <strong>excellent alternative to standard SMS<\/strong> \u2013 that is, if security is not a priority.<\/p>\n<h2>The Messaging Apps that Exist Today<\/h2>\n<p>Today, there are numerous messaging apps that can be used as an alternative to SMS. The <strong>most popular ones<\/strong> include:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 WhatsApp<br \/>\n\u2022 Threema<br \/>\n\u2022 Telegram<br \/>\n\u2022 Blackberry Messenger<br \/>\n\u2022 Line<\/p>\n<p>Of all these apps, <strong>security is not a major priority for any except Threema<\/strong>. WhatsApp\u2019s recent acquisition by Facebook and the app\u2019s careful outline in their terms and conditions indicates that the company has never been secure and they don\u2019t try to claim otherwise. WhatsApp does not store any messages, but none of the messages sent with the app are encrypted. Blackberry Messenger (BBM) comes on all Blackberries and can be downloaded from app stores for users with other brands of smart phones. The problem with BBM is that it\u2019s been found by researchers to be \u2018very critical\u2019 in terms of security. Telegram has received many mixed reviews about the level of security associated with the app. It was found \u2018very critical\u2019 by researchers, while others indicates the app is very secure. The app operates with open-source coding and reportedly <strong>does not encrypt messages<\/strong>. The app is known to automatically sync contacts without the user\u2019s consent.<\/p>\n<div class=\"omc-video-container\" style=\"margin-top:20px;\"><iframe width=\"560\" height=\"349\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lfSssPqpJXk\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h2>The Best Alternative to WhatsApp<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=lfSssPqpJXk\">Threema has received positive feedback<\/a> from numerous sources, and when tested for security, it proved to be <strong>one of the more secure messaging apps on the market<\/strong>. Threema is a Swiss company that operates with closed-source and a centralized server indicating that all messages are processed by Threema staff. Although the app is not free, it provides <strong>an excellent alternative to WhatsApp<\/strong> and offers the same features that WhatsApp offers. The app also offers users the option to manually or automatically sync contacts. Recently, Germans have taken to the app and it reached the position of top paid app in the German App Store.<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are many messaging apps out there that use Wi-Fi and allow users to save money on SMS. These apps have been gaining in popularity for international communication, or users without unlimited SMS in their monthly phone contracts. The apps are available for a multitude of operating systems and carriers including Apple, Android, Blackberry, Windows [&#038;hellip<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on get_the_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[7,1,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v15.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Safety behind Messaging Apps - Knicket<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Messaging apps are gaining in popularity as an alternative to standard SMS which has fees. 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