Sicher, a new "super-safe" messenger has arrived today on Windows Phone, iPhone and Android devices. Sicher (pronounced "Zee-her") comes from the team behind IM+ and brings free, encrypted chats and file transfers to users. Using the app, you'll be able to chat, send files, photos and voice messages to other users. Sicher goes so far as to not show incoming messages on your lock screen (only an alert) so you have to open the app to get the full message. Sicher features secure end-to-end encryption of messages, files and group chats, anonymous push notifications and self-destruction message settings.
"Only your peer, the holder of original private key, can decrypt the message you sent. Moreover, once your peer receives the message, we delete all of its traces from our servers. And there's a self-destruction timer for everything you send, as well as an option to force-purge existing conversation. The only way for third-party to see your communication is the app on your smartphone, so if Sicher is your primary secure messaging tool, we recommend to set a device-level password in application settings to prevent unauthorized opening of the app. The password itself and the data stored on device are also heavily encrypted."
Nothing is stored on servers, so once your messages are delivered, any trace gets deleted and it can only be read by the recipient. Sicher uses contact matching via phone numbers in your address book to find your friends, so you'll have to have some digits before you can start chatting things up with your buddies. Other features include:
Sicher 1.0
- Point-to-point encryption of text messages and files (pictures, videos, .pdf's, .doc's, .xls's, etc.)
- Timer for self-destruction of messages or manual purge of chats on all ends of conversation
- Group chats
- Anonymous Push notifications
- Password-protection of the app along with heavy encryption of all data stored on device
- Operated and located in Germany for maximum security and privacy
- We don't send crash logs, don't track usage statistics, don't use any advertising engines, don't integrate social network SDKs
Sicher is available now as a free download from the Windows Phone Store, though future versions may offer in-app purchases for non-core functionality.
