Wickr’s consumer messaging app will shut down next year
Wickr Me will stop accepting new users at the end of 2022.
Secure messaging platform Wickr is shutting down its consumer-facing app. In a blog post spotted by The Verge, the Amazon-owned company announced it would stop accepting new Wickr Me registrations by the end of the year before ultimately discounting the service altogether on December 31st, 2023. The shutdown won’t affect the AWS and Enterprise versions of Wickr.
“After careful consideration, we will be concentrating Wickr’s focus on securing our business and public sector customers’ data and communications with AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise, and have decided to discontinue our consumer product, Wickr Me,” the company said, adding that it was working on developing the capability for Wickr customers to securely communicate with individuals outside of their organization.
The announcement comes following reports that Amazon had been doing little to combat the problem of people using Wickr Me to exchange child sexual abuse material. In June, NBC News, citing court documents and information from law enforcement and activists, said the platform had become a “go-to destination” for those trafficking in that type of content.
Before next year's shutdown, Wickr said it would share information with users on how to save their data. Thankfully, alternatives aren't hard to find, with apps like Signal providing robust secure messaging.
