Signal, Wire, Threema or Element? Secure Messengers Compared

Secure communication matters to many people – in families, clubs, small businesses and especially in law firms and practices. Public administrations and institutions are increasingly using encrypted messengers too. The good news: there are several excellent options. Here are four of them.

The four candidates

Signal

Signal is a non-profit project and very popular with private users. Its encryption is considered the gold standard and is used by other messengers too. You need a phone number to sign up, but you can hide it behind a username.

Wire

Wire is a European messenger focused on businesses and organisations. It offers admin features for teams, guest access and video conferencing. There's a specially vetted version for public institutions.

Threema

Threema comes from Switzerland. You can use it without a phone number or email address. Threema Work is a version for organisations with central administration.

Element (Matrix)

Element is built on the open Matrix standard. Every organisation can run its own server, and all servers can talk to each other – similar to email. Element is used, among others, by the German armed forces, German healthcare and the French public administration.

Compared

Which suits whom?

• Family and friends: Signal is simple and widely used. Threema if you'd rather not give a phone number.
• Club or small team: Element on your own server, Wire or Threema Work – depending on how much administration you need.
• Law firm or practice: A solution with central administration. Element on your own server has the advantage that all data lives in a place you know.

A few terms, briefly explained

• End-to-end encryption: Only the sender and recipient can read the message – not even the provider.
• Federation: Different servers can communicate with each other.
• Metadata: Information about who communicates with whom and when – this should also be handled as sparingly as possible.

Tips for switching as a team

• Set a date: From a certain day, team communication runs through the new messenger.
• Set up groups cleanly: A few clear groups are better than lots of small ones.
• Short introduction: Ten minutes in a team meeting is often enough.
• Secure recovery: Every messenger has ways to move messages to a new device. The associated keys or PINs belong in the password manager.
• Separate private and work communication: A dedicated messenger for work means more peace in the evening.

An example from a club

A sports club with 150 members has so far organised itself through lots of different chat groups. The committee decides on its own Matrix server. There's a space for the club with rooms for the committee, the coaches and the individual teams. New members get an invitation link. Because Matrix is federated, members who already have an account on another Matrix server can join too.

Conclusion

Signal, Wire, Threema and Element are all really good, secure messengers. Which one fits best depends on your everyday life. If you'd like to equip your team with its own Matrix server, my Chat might be for you – more under Pricing.

If you'd like to give it a try, I'm happy to help – just drop me a line.