Wickr adds a Mac client to its free ultra-secure messaging family
I took a look at Wickr for iOS more than a year ago. It offered free and extremely secure messaging between others with the Wickr app. At the time of the review, I longed for a Mac client, and now one has just been released. It has all the features of the Wickr iOS app, and there now are apps for Windows and Linux as well as iOS and Android.
The app puts you in control of all your messaging to a far greater degree than the usual messaging and social apps. You can send text, pictures, voice and video messages. There aren't any ads, and none of your private information is stored anywhere. You can decide how long a message will exist after you send it, and when it is deleted, it is really gone. Your messages are protected with multi-layer encryption using AES256 and ECDH521. Metadata is automatically deleted, including location, time, and device IDs. Wickr servers maintain only irreversibly scrambled versions of non-Wickr ID information in the directory services. Your contacts do not reside on Wickr servers, and the company does not sell your personal information to anyone. IP addresses are not stored, and there is no back door to the system.
The app has been hailed by human rights activists and is the official app of the Oslo Freedom Forum. I added the desktop app to my account, and there was one issue, but I reinstalled and everything was fine. The app recognized my iPhone account, and would have noted any other devices registered.
If you are in a business where secure communications matters, Wickr is a natural. It's also great for individuals, as we live in a world where increasingly, our words, locations, contacts, and media can fall into the hands of others.
Wickr will remain free, making it a tremendous bargain, but over time the company will develop some premium services that will carry a charge. There's a web page describing how the system works in detail.
Wickr for Mac requires OS X 10.8 or above. Wickr for iOS requires iOS 6.1 or above and is a universal app.
