cwtch

With each passing year, it seems as though privacy concerns become increasingly more relevant, prompting many people to look for ways to anonymize their online presence. This is a hot topic, especially when it comes to messaging platforms— for instance, WhatsApp's privacy debacle ultimately got many users to distrust the service.

More privacy-oriented alternatives are available, and whether one uses Signal, Telegram, and other such services, it can be claimed that there's still some uncertainty in the way they manage users' data. cwtch, a decentralized and privacy-focused messaging app, seeks to bolster its users' anonymity even further, even if it means employing more radical measures.

At first glance, this seems like a quite simple app — and, barring the privacy elements, it is. Users won't have a problem navigating through it, because the design is very familiar. Simply create an account — you can choose to omit inputting a password — add your friends' addresses, and start chatting. You can create however many accounts you want.

It's worth knowing that, when messaging someone, the chat history between you will be deleted after closing the app. This is the default setting, but it can be changed in the Conversation Settings.

Some measures that were taken to ensure the user's privacy may seem a bit drastic to some, so they're worth mentioning. For instance, due to the peer-to-peer messaging connection, users cannot create group chats. The option is nevertheless available via the Experiments menu, but they require hosting using an untrusted server.

Attaching images or videos is not possible unless toggled through the same Experiments menu, but again, the privacy considerations change, as mentioned in the app. The feature is still in the works, so it can be unreliable at times. Video calling is unsupported. 

Testing apps like cwtch is always a joy: programs dedicated to the user's privacy are worth appreciating. In this day and age, you never know who else is seeing your messages — so it's always nice to see apps that seek to empower one's anonymity.