✍Aenco Academy #31: The Magical Trend of Texting — Messenger Application
In the past few years, the preference for text-based communication has surpassed that for phone conversions. Among numerous messaging apps nowadays, we place our choice on the basis of our needs and concerns.
Recently, cybersecurity and data privacy have been the major concern for messaging apps. This is clearly shown by the backlash against WhatsApp’s updated terms to share users’ data with Facebook, its parent company. As people are becoming more attentive to data protection and integrity, privacy-focused messaging apps experienced an upsurge of downloads. Although WhatsApp delayed the privacy policy by three months amidst mass confusion, users still call out Facebook-owned communication platform and switch to alternatives with better security, such as Telegram and Signal.
Messages and calls on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, but Telegram and Signal go further to protect user privacy. Cloud-based Telegram provides the function of Secret Chat which supports end-to-end encryption. It encrypts messages in MTProto, its proprietary encryption protocol, so data will be less likely to be shared with others. On the other hand, Signal encrypts not only the messages and calls, but also the metadata. It uses a fully open-source protocol to perform end-to-end encryption for all forms of communications on the platform. Signal is considered as by far the most reliable and safe application in the instant messaging market. Therefore, Signal has witnessed a surge in users since January.
In addition to the above messaging apps which allow users to communicate safely with internet connection, offline communication app is one of the trending communication tools now. Bridgefy is the offline messaging app which allows users to communicate without internet access or SMS services. The connection is instead based on mesh networks, a group of devices connected through Bluetooth. Hence, Bridgefy could let users share messages offline within the chains of unlimited devices.
We see Bridgefy’s rapid growth in popularity after the military coup in Myanmar. The app was installed more than one million times in 48 hours during the Myanmar protests, when the country military disrupted internet services temporarily. The offline communication app was also widely used by protestors in Hong Kong during the Anti-ELAB movements in 2019, as its offline nature makes it harder for the Chinese state to trace their communication. Apart from protests, Bridgefy aided the communication of information when most Caribbean island nations lost all connection to power due to the devastation caused by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017. Bridgefy has been used in lieu of online communication apps when internet access is unreliable.
Individuals rely more on messaging apps, and internet access and cybersecurity are currently their main need and concern for online communication. These could potentially be the messaging app features for developers to design or improve. After all, a safe and reliable messaging apps is what the public is looking for. If such messaging app is available under all circumstances in different places, it will definitely be highly sought-after.
𝓕𝓲𝓷𝓭 𝓐𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓸:
✔𝘛𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮: 𝘵.𝘮𝘦/𝘈𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰
✔𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮: 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘶𝘮.𝘤𝘰𝘮/@𝘢𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯/
✔ 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮: 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘢𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯/
✔𝘓𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘐𝘯: 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘯.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘺/𝘈𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰
✔𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳: 𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘈𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯
✔𝘍𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬: 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬.𝘤𝘰𝘮/𝘈𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯
✔𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥: 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘥.𝘨𝘨/𝘕𝘟𝘱𝘍𝘤𝘒𝘘
✔𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘦: 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘛𝘶𝘣𝘦.𝘈𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘪𝘯.𝘤𝘰𝘮
✔𝘝𝘪𝘣𝘦𝘳: 𝘈𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰 𝘝𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘯𝘢𝘮
✔𝘡𝘢𝘭𝘰: 𝘻𝘢𝘭𝘰.𝘮𝘦/𝘨/𝘷𝘷𝘨𝘭𝘮𝘫886
