No phone number, no corporate e-mail. Messengers that don't ask you questions
Today, many companies want to know everything about you and the organization you work for before allowing you to download their software. It's standard practice from the security perspective. However, it may be extremely annoying if you need to test the software before selecting the one for your company since most vendors require your phone number and corporate email address. Again, it's standard practice today, but do you want to get follow-up emails or irritating sales phone calls? Here is a list of secure messaging apps that allow registration without your phone number.
Virola Corporate Messenger
Virola is a secure, self-hosted corporate messenger that was designed with safety and privacy in mind. There is no need to register to download Virola server and client versions. If you are going to host everything on-premises, you just need to go to the Downloads page and download the server and client versions.
If you decide to purchase a self-hosted license, you will need to specify your email address to register an account, but no phone number will be required.
Virola is one of the best business messaging apps for anonymous and secure team communication and collaboration. Virola supports a wide range of features, such as private and group chats, video and audio meetings, a task board, issue tracking, document exchange, unlimited chat history and attachment storage, screen sharing and remote control, and other functionality that will make your business communication secure and productive.
Session
Session is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that minimizes sensitive metadata. It is designed and built for people who want absolute privacy and freedom from any form of surveillance.
For registration, Session uses a unique Session ID, thus, no email or phone number is required. It's a great tool for anonymous communication. It supports private and group chats, voice messages, and document exchange. However, if you need more collaboration features, Session is quite limited.
Tox
Tox is easy-to-use software that connects you with friends and family without anyone else listening in. Tox is completely free and comes without advertising. Tox supports private and group messaging, voice and video chats, file exchange, and screen sharing.
Tox does not require an email address or phone for registration. Tox has no central servers. The network is made up of its users. This means that if your device is offline, you won't receive messages. Tox is a great secure messaging app for decentralized secure communication.
Briar
Briar offers peer-to-peer messaging that bypasses centralized servers. It connects via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Tor. Decentralized technology, together with end-to-end encryption, ensures that conversations stay private and available even without Internet access.
Briar does not require your phone number or email for registration. It is available only for Android. Briar can sync via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or memory cards when there is no Internet. If the Internet's up, Briar can sync via the Tor network, protecting users and their relationships from surveillance. It's a great messaging app for those who need a safe, easy, and robust way to communicate.
Who needs a secure private messaging app?
Secure private messaging apps are more useful than many people realize. They guarantee communication without surveillance, prevent data leaks, and provide privacy.
Here is a quick overview of who benefits from them and why:
- Journalists and activists. Their work may put them or their sources at risk. Sometimes, they need to communicate in situations when no access to the Internet is possible. Thus, they need communication apps that bypass centralized servers or are self-hosted and can work offline.
- Individuals. Privacy is a human right — people may not want their messages scanned or stored.
- Lawyers and doctors. This category of professionals wants to avoid legal risks or data breaches since client confidentiality is mandatory for their business.
- Businesses and corporations. They want to protect sensitive internal communications and communicate without data leaks, industrial espionage, or insider threats.
- People in high-risk areas. In authoritarian regimes, many cloud messaging apps are monitored or banned. To ensure secure communication, people look for messaging apps that do not require a phone number or email address for registration.
- Developers. This category prefers customization, privacy, and control. Technicians are aware of the risks of using cloud messaging apps and prefer communication tools that provide security and data control.