Safe chat app download: how to pick one and install it
How to download a safe chat app: use the official store, check the developer, read the permissions, and pick Signal, WhatsApp or Hashti for the right job.
If you want to download a safe chat app, the safest move is boring: get it from the official App Store or Google Play, check that the developer name is the real company, and look at what permissions it asks for before you say yes. Then pick the app for the job. For private talk with people you already know, Signal is my first choice, and WhatsApp is a reasonable second because almost everyone has it. For public communities, Telegram is popular but its normal chats are not end-to-end encrypted. For meeting new adults in public rooms where everyone's identity has been checked, that is the gap I built Hashti to fill. The rest of this post explains how I decide.
Why "safe" means two different things
I am Armenian-Iranian and I live in Los Angeles. Half my family chats on apps that I would never use for anything sensitive, and the other half refuses to install anything new. Watching them, I learned that people mean two very different things when they say "safe chat app."
1. Safe from being read. Nobody, including the company, can see your messages. This is about encryption. 2. Safe from the people you meet. No fake accounts, no harassment, no strangers who come back with a new profile after they get banned. This is about identity and moderation.
An app can be excellent at one and weak at the other. Signal is superb at the first and does not try to do the second, because it is not built for meeting strangers. A big public chat app might have decent moderation but no encryption at all in its rooms. Before you download anything, decide which kind of safe you actually need.
Step one: download it the safe way
Most of the real damage I have seen did not come from a famous app. It came from a fake copy of one.
Use the official store
On iPhone, use the App Store. On Android, use Google Play. Apple and Google both review apps before they go live. That review is not perfect, but it removes a lot of the worst things.
Be careful with links that promise a "modded" or "premium unlocked" version of a chat app, or an APK file sent to you in a message. This comes up a lot in Iranian circles, where people are used to installing apps from outside the store. A modified messenger is the perfect tool for reading someone's messages, because you hand it everything willingly.
Check the developer name
Fake apps often copy the icon and the name. They rarely copy the developer. Before you tap install, scroll down and look at who made it. Signal is published by the Signal Foundation. WhatsApp is published by WhatsApp or Meta. If the name is a random person or a company you have never heard of, stop.
Also look at the number of ratings and how long the app has been around. A "WhatsApp" with forty reviews is not WhatsApp.
Read the permissions
A chat app needs your microphone for voice notes and calls, and your camera if you send photos or video. It may ask for contacts so it can find friends. Those are normal.
Things that should make you pause:
- It wants your precise location all the time, with no clear reason.
- It asks to read your SMS messages when it is not an SMS app.
- On Android, it asks for accessibility access. That permission lets an app read your screen, and it is a favourite of malware.
On iPhone and Android you can say no to most permissions and change your mind later in Settings. Start with the minimum.
Keep it updated
Security fixes arrive through updates. Turn on automatic updates for your chat apps. An old version of a good app can be less safe than a current version of an average one.
Step two: pick the right app for the job
Here is how I honestly think about the main options. I am only stating things that are well known and stable. Where it is my opinion, I say so.
Signal: private talk with people you know
Signal encrypts messages and calls end to end by default, so the company cannot read them. It is run by a nonprofit and collects very little about you. You can set a username so you do not have to share your phone number.
The downside is that your friends have to install it too. My opinion: if you only download one chat app for privacy, make it this one.
WhatsApp: what everyone already has
WhatsApp also uses end-to-end encryption for personal messages and calls by default. It is owned by Meta, which collects more information about how you use it than Signal does. Still, if your whole family is on WhatsApp, using it with good settings is much safer than using nothing.
Settings worth changing: turn on two-step verification, limit who can add you to groups, and hide your profile photo and "last seen" from people who are not your contacts.
Telegram: big communities, but not private by default
Telegram is where many large public groups live, especially in Farsi and Russian. It is easy to join a channel for news or a group for your city.
The important fact: normal Telegram chats and groups are not end-to-end encrypted. Only one-to-one "Secret Chats" are. Set your phone number to visible by "Nobody," limit who can add you to groups, and treat every group message as if it were posted publicly.
iMessage and Google Messages
If everyone you talk to is on iPhone, iMessage is encrypted end to end and already on your phone. Google Messages offers encryption between Android users with RCS turned on. Neither is designed for meeting new people.
Apps for meeting strangers
This is the hard category. Random video chat sites and anonymous apps are popular because they are easy, and that is exactly the problem. When anyone can make a new account in ten seconds, a banned person is back in ten seconds too.
If you want to talk to new people, look for three things before you download:
1. Some kind of identity check, so accounts belong to real adults. 2. A way to report people that actually leads to bans that stick. 3. Clear rules written down, not hidden.
Where Hashti fits, and where it does not
I built Hashti because I wanted a place to talk with new adults, from Los Angeles to Tehran to Yerevan, without the fake accounts and repeat offenders that made me quit other apps.
Here is what it does. Hashti is free and for adults 18 and over. It is out now on the App Store, and the Android version is in a closed test. There are public rooms with names and topics, plus private chats, calls and a walkie-talkie for when you want to talk one to one.
Identity is checked once against a government document. The photo is deleted after the check, but a fingerprint of the document stays, so the same document cannot open a second account. Accounts that are not verified cannot host rooms, speak in voice rooms or message strangers. Twelve verified reports close an account permanently. You can read the details on the Hashti safety page.
Live translation covers 29 languages and is part of Hashti Plus. Everything else is free. The app's own interface is in English today; a Farsi one is being built.
Now the honest limits:
- Hashti is not a replacement for Signal. If you need the strongest privacy for a conversation with a cousin in a country that watches its citizens, use Signal. Hashti is built for meeting and talking in rooms, not for that.
- You have to verify your ID to do the main things. Some people do not want to share a document with any app, even one that deletes the photo. That is a fair choice, and if that is you, Hashti will feel limited.
- It is newer and smaller than WhatsApp or Telegram. Some rooms will be quiet at some hours.
- Android users are still waiting for the public release.
A quick checklist before you tap install
- Am I in the official App Store or Google Play?
- Is the developer the real company?
- Does it have a long history and lots of ratings?
- Do the permissions make sense for a chat app?
- Do I need privacy from the company, or safety from strangers, or both?
- Have I turned on two-step verification and tightened who can contact me?
My short answer
Download from the official store, check the developer, and give an app only the permissions it needs. Use Signal for private talk with people you trust, WhatsApp if that is where your family already is, and Telegram for public groups with your settings locked down. If you want to meet other adults in rooms where everyone has been checked and bad actors cannot keep coming back, try Hashti. And if one of the other apps fits what you need better, use that one. A safe choice is the one that matches the job.
Hashti is free, and it is 18+. Hashti Plus — live translation, writing help and catch-ups — is $4.99 a month or $39.99 a year, and nothing else costs anything. How rooms work is on the rooms page, and how reports and the ID check work is on the safety page.