What is wickr app

The Wickr Me Android app gets a good score of 4. While this is a healthy number of downloads, it is dwarfed by the big names in the space like the Telegram Android app , which has been downloaded over million times. Installing Wickr Me on an Android phone requires selecting a username and password.

This means you can create an anonymous account since no personally identifiable information, such as an email address or phone number, is required. The username you enter serves as your Wickr ID. Next, WickrMe gives you the option to enable Contact Finder. Contact Finder will scan your phone's address book looking for contacts that are also Wickr users.

You can link your own phone number to your Wickr ID so others can find you. But this is optional so you can skip it if you want to protect your anonymity. You can also enable Biometric Prompt , which requires biometric or password authentication whenever you launch Wickr Me. Finally, Wickr Me offers you a guided tour of the app's features.

Since the team continues to add new features to their apps, I recommend you spend a moment to complete the tour and get updated on any features I didn't cover in this WickrMe review. Once you do, you'll be ready to start using Wickr Me. Using Wickr Me is much the same as using any other messaging app at first. Tap a contact to initiate a Direct Message with them. As you might expect you can send voice messages or have live voice chats. Beyond that you can share files, photos, and videos.

Remember that I told you Wickr Me uses ephemeral messaging. All Wickr messages have a limited lifespan and are automatically destroyed after that.

The app includes a digital shredder feature that destroys the messages in such a way that they are immune to forensic recovery.

When they are gone they are really, really gone. The expiration timer comes into play when you create a message. You can see evidence of it in the text entry field before you start typing a new line of text. The expiration time is not the only auto-destruct timer built into Wickr Me.

The other is called the Burn-On-Read timer. The expiration timer is the maximum lifespan of a message. When the expiration timer hits its limit the message is irretrievably deleted. This happens even if the message has not yet been read, or the burn-on-read timer still has time left on it. But if the burn-on-read timer expires before the expiration timer goes off, the message will be deleted based on the burn-on-read timer.

In other words, a message is shredded and completely deleted when either the expiration timer or the burn-on-read timer fires, whichever comes first.

Wickr Me supports basic group messaging through the use of un-moderated Rooms. This is one of the reasons you might want to consider Wickr Pro Basic. That version allows for bigger rooms and an assigned moderator for the group. Other useful features of Wickr Me include:. You download the Wickr Me desktop apps directly from the Wickr website. Here's the link. The page also provides download links for the mobile version as well.

While Wickr has long included the mobile apps here, it is looking like a prescient move as Apple and Google have recently begun evicting apps they don't like from their stores Parler, for example. Once you download and install the correct desktop app, you will get the opportunity to go through the Wickr Me tour.

Furthermore, there is no central server logging all message content with all data being ephemeral. Of course, choosing the best secure messaging service all comes down to your threat model and specific needs. Note : At least the United States does not have laws yet that force companies to break encryption and provide access to all secure communications, as we have seen in Australia.

This is an issue we discussed in our Session messenger review. Wickr Pro is the business-oriented side of the Wickr product line. Maintain total control over your business communications while also remaining totally compliant.

If you need enterprise-scale collaboration, this could be the service you are looking for. Click this link for more information. Wickr RAM Recall, Alert, and Messaging is a secure collaboration platform designed specifically for the needs of the armed forces and approved by the DoD. You can get more information on this system here. Wickr Me is free of charge. It is possible that the team will add some optional features at some point such as greater persistence for files , but the core Wickr Me product will remain free.

Some secure messengers only offer paid apps, as we covered in our Threema review. The Silver, Gold, and Platinum tiers are all geared toward businesses and large teams. The Basic tier could be of particular interest for people interested in Wickr Me.

You have to log in to Wickr Pro Basic with an email address, but you gain access to Pro-level features like secure video calling and a secure workspace for teams of up to 30 people.

If chatting is all you want to do, Wickr Me is the obvious answer. But if you need a secure workspace, or plan to use Wickr in a team situation, the free Wickr Pro Basic option might be exactly what you need.

Wickr Me is one of the most capable secure messaging apps in the world. And it is free. Because all content is ephemeral it may take a little getting used to, but do you really need copies of 6-month old messages sucking up space on your phone? Wickr Pro is a great option for anyone wanting access to more features. You can opt for the Basic free plan to get more features than Wickr Me.

Or you can go with the Silver, Gold, or Platinum plans if you need support for a large team or business.

Alternatives secure messaging apps we have reviewed here on Restore Privacy:. Heinrich was born in a small town in the Midwest USA before setting sail for offshore destinations.

Heinrich enjoys traveling the world, while also keeping his location secret and digital tracks covered. Wickr has an not so funny complication , it uses bugsnag a Google funded service that gets metadata everytime you log in.

Especially in group chat or Rooms, if someone take screen shot of the message, WickrMe will alert all users in that room that particular user took screen shot. Hi Heinrich! The people often use these for the registration in some where, with no their real phone numbers. Honestly, I doubt that the services like these really exist. I suspect, the people who stand behind them, use the real phones to provide SMS for the users.

But if those services realy exist, how is it safe to use it? How is it safe to use the paid services like those if them exist, of course? Hello guys , some news from middle east is saying signal messenger has been blocked by islamic state in iran , so if they can using wickr but maybe that be filtering too!

Thats important is companies must to developing block chain connection in them apps for the stop cencorship and filtering apps exactly messengers apps. Though Wickr Pro uses an e-mail address, Wickr does not enforce the requirement of using a corporate address.

Users can sign up with any e-mail address to remain anonymous. As the article mentions Proton mail is a good option. When I run wikrpro and enter my email address, I do not receive my email message from them.

I am using Windows 10 and hotmail. I have consulted with wikrpro and microsoft. I never receive any error messages. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Please contact support wickr. We would be happy to help. You should also check your spam folder. Whenever the app is loading after log in it crashes. Tried it on different phones with the same os same result. Every kther e2e messenger is working. Wickr is one of my favourite messenger.

Please fix this. The communities around grapheneOS and especially calyxOs are growing. Especially calyx because with microG ots now possible to have a degoogelized phone that can run any app from the playstore. But would work as well too.. You could isolate them by putting them into a sandbox and only let them phone home while using them.. I had no clue prior to reading your clear and easy-to-understand explanation. I feel that I have more than a basic understanding now, and feel more in sync with the rest of the world.

Good writing! WickrMe and WickrPro are good. Twitter had good fun with the Wickr story on Monday. Glorious raffeg is glorious wickr pic. Wickr: the secret messaging app of the party unfaithful?