Element Alternatives

Threema is a messenger application that puts security and privacy first. The application is designed to generate as little user data as possible. The service is fully GDPR-compliant and the company has its own servers hosted in Switzerland. With Threema you can keep in touch with friends, family and co-workers while enjoying privacy and rest assured that you personal data is not commoditized.

Signal is a cross-platform encrypted messaging application that has a strong focus on privacy. The application is developed by Signal Messenger LLC and provides users with features like one-to-one and group messages, which can include files, voice notes, images and videos. The software is famous for being used by the whistleblower and privacy advocate Edward Snowden who once said "I use Signal every day, it is the most scalable encryption tool we have".

With Telegram people can communicate and via instant messaging and voice over IP. Telegram is a cloud-based software and services that have a focus on privacy, speed and security. The client was initially created by the brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, the creators of the Russian social network VK back in 2013. Today the application is used cross-platform by over 400 million users world-wide.

Kik is a free instant messaging and social networking app that allows you to stay connected with friends and stay in the loop. Over 4 million people use Kik on their smartphones to send messages and connect with the world around them. The design of the Kik application is easy on the eyes, and even easier to use. Share emojis and images directly in the chat and create and interact with chatbots to perform task like enhancing images, get news or play simple games.

Ripcord is a desktop chat client for group-centric services like Slack and Discord. It provides a traditional compact desktop interface designed for power users. It has a small resource footprint, responds quickly to input, and gets out of your way. With Ripcord, you can connect with friends, family and co-workers.

Skype is a telecommunications application that specialize in providing video chat and voice calls between computers, tablets, mobile devices and consoles. The software allows you to connect with friends and business colleges worldwide. Skype provides free online calls, messaging, affordable international calling to mobiles or landlines and Skype for Business for effective collaboration among teams.

Zoom is a commercial video and web conferencing software that can be used for webinars or team collaboration and communication. The software is developed by the Chinese and American company Zoom Video Communications, Inc. Zoom provides a cloud platform that is used and loved by many enterprises and fortune 500 companies, due to the easy-of-use and infrastructure-less nature of the platform.

Jitsi is an open-source project and software toolset that allows you to easily build and deploy secure video conferencing solutions. At the heart of Jitsi are Jitsi Videobridge and Jitsi Meet, which let you have conferences on the internet, while other projects in the community enable other features such as audio, dial-in, recording, and simulcasting.  Jitsi supports popular protocols such as SIP, XMPP/Jabber, ICQ/AIM, Windows Live, Yahoo!, Google Hangouts, OTR, ZRTP and more.

Viber is a cross-platform voice over IP application that allow people to make free and secure calls and messages to anyone, anywhere. With Viber, you can create group chats and make group calls, send stickers and emojis over chats that are 100% synced between devices, including 1-tap transfer of calls. Viber is available for free on Android, iOS, macOS, Linux and Windows.

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Facebook Messenger is a free standalone chat application that is well integrated with the social network, Facebook. With Facebook Messenger you can stay in contact with friends and family, and other contacts from Facebook. The applicaiton has a ton of built-in features that make communication fun and engaging. Send images, gifs, video messages, voice notes, and stickers or share content from around the web. Facebook Messenger automatically syncs with your Facebook contacts without the need of adding phone numbers or identification manually.

WhatsApp is free messenger app for chat and voice over IP, owned and managed by Facebook. The application allow users to send text and voice messages, make voice and video calls and share images, media files and user locations with friends and family.