# ChatSecure

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Messaging application

ChatSecure Original author Chris Ballinger Developers Chris Ballinger, David Chiles, and contributors Release 1.0.2 / February 27, 2012; 14 years ago (2012-02-27)[1] Stable release 5.0.4[2] / August 13, 2021; 4 years ago (2021-08-13) Written in Objective-C, Swift Operating system iOS Size 10.7 MB[3] Available in 30 languages[3] Type Communication License GPL-3.0-or-later[4] Website chatsecure.org Repository github.com/chatsecure

**ChatSecure** is a messaging application for [iOS](/source/IOS) which allows [OTR](/source/Off-the-Record_Messaging) and [OMEMO](/source/OMEMO) encryption for the [XMPP](/source/XMPP) protocol. ChatSecure is [free and open source software](/source/Free_and_open_source_software) available under the [GPL-3.0-or-later](/source/GNU_General_Public_License) license.

ChatSecure has been used by international individuals[5][6] and governments,[7] businesses,[8] and those spreading [jihadi](/source/Jihadi) propaganda.[9][10]

The app has not been maintained since 2021.[11]

## History

ChatSecure was originally released in 2011, and was the first iOS application to support OTR messaging.[12] In 2012, ChatSecure formed a partnership with [The Guardian Project](/source/The_Guardian_Project_(software)) and the Gibberbot app was rebranded to "ChatSecure Android".[13]

In late 2016, the [Android](/source/Android_(operating_system)) branding partnership was ended,[14][15] with ChatSecure Android becoming 'Zom',[16] and ChatSecure iOS remaining as ChatSecure. ChatSecure iOS remains in active development and is unaffected by this change. Version 4.0 was released on January 17, 2017.[17]

ChatSecure is censored from the [App Store](/source/App_Store_(iOS%2FiPadOS)) in [China](/source/China).[18]

## Reception

In November 2014, "ChatSecure + [Orbot](/source/Orbot)" received a perfect score on the [Electronic Frontier Foundation](/source/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation)'s "Secure Messaging Scorecard";[19] the combination received points for having communications encrypted in transit, having communications encrypted with keys the provider doesn't have access to ([end-to-end encryption](/source/End-to-end_encryption)), making it possible for users to independently verify their correspondents' identities, having past communications secure if the keys are stolen ([forward secrecy](/source/Forward_secrecy)), having the code open to independent review ([open source](/source/Open-source_software)), having the security designs well-documented, and having a recent independent security audit.[19]

## See also

- [Comparison of instant messaging clients](/source/Comparison_of_instant_messaging_clients)

- [List of free and open-source iOS applications](/source/List_of_free_and_open-source_iOS_applications)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS"](https://github.com/ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS/releases/tag/v1.0.2). *[GitHub](/source/GitHub)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["ChatSecure Messenger"](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chatsecure/id464200063). 13 August 2021.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-apple_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-apple_3-1) ["ChatSecure Messenger on the App Store"](https://apps.apple.com/app/chatsecure-messenger/id464200063). *apps.apple.com*. 13 August 2021.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["README.md"](https://github.com/ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS/blob/master/README.md). *[GitHub](/source/GitHub)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Glaser, April. ["Your Selfies Are Insecure. Here's How to Encrypt Them"](https://www.wired.com/2016/01/secure-messaging-apps/). *Wired*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Dredge, Stuart (11 December 2014). ["Worried about leaky chats? Messaging apps are responding with security features"](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/11/messenger-private-chats). *The Guardian*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Paletta, Damian (22 February 2016). ["How the U.S. Fights Encryption—and Also Helps Develop It"](https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-the-u-s-fights-encryptionand-also-helps-develop-it-1456109096). *Wall Street Journal*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Pogue, David (2016). ["Your E-mail Password Will Never Be Safe"](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/its-time-to-admit-that-e-mail-will-never-be-100-percent-secure/). *Scientific American*. **316** (1): 24. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2016SciAm.316a..24P](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2016SciAm.316a..24P). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1038/scientificamerican0117-24](https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fscientificamerican0117-24). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [28004711](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28004711).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["'Dark net' Islamic preachers under intelligence lens"](https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2017/jan/12/dark-net-islamic-preachers-under-intelligence--lens-1558736.html). 12 January 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["ISIS recommends list of secure-messaging apps amid heated U.S. encryption debate"](http://www.dailydot.com/layer8/isis-telegram-encryption-messenger-recommendations/). *[The Daily Dot](/source/The_Daily_Dot)*. 13 April 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["Commits · ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS"](https://github.com/ChatSecure/ChatSecure-iOS). *GitHub*. Retrieved 2023-07-14.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["ChatSecure iOS Security Audit"](https://chatsecure.org/blog/chatsecure-security-audit/). *ChatSecure*. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 2023-01-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-GP2_13-0)** Nathan Freitas (24 October 2013). ["ChatSecure v12 Provides Comprehensive Mobile Security and a Whole New Look"](https://web.archive.org/web/20180907183011/https://guardianproject.info/2013/10/24/chatsecure-v12-provides-comprehensive-security-and-a-whole-new-look/). GuardianProject.info. Archived from [the original](https://guardianproject.info/2013/10/24/chatsecure-v12-provides-comprehensive-security-and-a-whole-new-look/) on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["The End of ChatSecure Android"](https://chatsecure.org/blog/chatsecure-android-deprecated/). 16 December 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** ["ChatSecure 4.0 Launches With Support For Signal-Derivative 'OMEMO' Protocol (Update)"](http://www.tomshardware.com/news/chatsecure-4-omemo-end-to-end-encryption,33439.html). 18 January 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** ["zom/Zom-Android"](https://github.com/zom/Zom-Android). *[GitHub](/source/GitHub)*.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ["ChatSecure v4.0 - OMEMO and Signal Protocol"](https://chatsecure.org/blog/chatsecure-v4-released/). 17 January 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** ["Apple Censorship: ChatSecure"](https://applecensorship.com/app-store-monitor/app/464200063).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-eff-2014-11-04_19-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-eff-2014-11-04_19-1) ["Secure Messaging Scorecard"](https://www.eff.org/node/82654). Electronic Frontier Foundation. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2017.

## External links

- [Official website](https://chatsecure.org)

v t e Instant messaging Protocols (comparison) Open DDP IMPP IRC Matrix MLS MTProto Retroshare Signal Protocol SIP MSRP SIMPLE Tox XMPP Jingle Zephyr Closed MSNP OSCAR TOC Skype Services Band BBM Enterprise Beeper BiP Bitchat DingTalk Discord Element Google Chat Google Meet Google Messages GroupMe iGap iMessage Imo Instagram Direct Messenger JioChat Jongla KakaoTalk Kik Lark Libon Line Marco Polo Mattermost Max Facebook Messenger Messenger Kids Olvid Paltalk The Palace QQ Rocket.Chat Sandes Session ShareChat Signal Slack Snapchat Snow Stoat Tango Live Telegram Textfree Threema Trillian Viber VK Messenger WeChat WhatsApp Wickr WOLF Zalo Zoom Zulip Clients (comparison) Single protocol Baidu Hi BBM Enterprise Briar Element FaceTime Gadu-Gadu GroupMe HCL Sametime IMVU Jami Jongla Linphone Facebook Messenger Olvid QQ Retroshare Ricochet Session Signal Telegram Tox WeChat WhatsApp Wickr Wire WOLF Multi-protocol Adium Ayttm Beeper BitlBee Centericq eBuddy Jitsi Kopete Messages Miranda NG Nimbuzz Pidgin Finch Telepathy Thunderbird Trillian XMPP (Jabber) Conversations Gajim Movim Psi Spark Xabber MSNP Microsoft Teams Defunct List of defunct instant messaging platforms Related Backchannel Chat log Chatbot Circuit Comparison of user features of messaging platforms Contact list Emoticon File sharing FirstClass Flock Fuze Box Hall.com LAN messenger Online chat Presence information RingCentral Glip SMS language Status message U-Report Videotelephony Viva Engage VoIP Webcam

v t e Cryptographic software Email clients Apple Mail Autocrypt Claws Mail Enigmail GPG Gpg4win GPG Mail Kontact Outlook p≡p PGP Proton Mail Sylpheed Thunderbird Secure communication OTR Adium BitlBee Centericq ChatSecure climm Jitsi Kopete Profanity SSH Dropbear lsh OpenSSH PuTTY SecureCRT WinSCP wolfSSH TLS & SSL BBM Enterprise Bouncy Castle BoringSSL Botan cryptlib GnuTLS JSSE LibreSSL MatrixSSL NSS OpenSSL mbed TLS BSAFE SChannel SSLeay stunnel TeamNote wolfSSL VPN Check Point VPN-1 Hamachi Openswan OpenVPN SoftEther VPN strongSwan Tinc WireGuard ZRTP Jitsi Linphone Jami Zfone P2P Bitmessage Briar RetroShare Tox DRA Matrix OMEMO Cryptocat ChatSecure Proteus Session Signal Protocol Facebook Messenger Google Allo Google Messages Signal TextSecure WhatsApp Zangi Olvid Disk encryption (Comparison) BestCrypt BitLocker Cryptoloop dm-crypt DriveSentry E4M eCryptfs FileVault FreeOTFE GBDE geli LUKS PGPDisk Private Disk Scramdisk Sentry 2020 TrueCrypt History VeraCrypt Anonymity GNUnet I2P Java Anon Proxy Mixnet Tor Vidalia RetroShare Ricochet Wickr File systems (List) EncFS EFS eCryptfs LUKS PEFS Rubberhose StegFS Tahoe-LAFS Security-focused operating system GrapheneOS Tails Qubes Service providers Hyphanet NordLocker Proton Drive Tresorit WinPT Wuala Educational CrypTool Anti–computer forensics USBKill BusKill Related topics Outline of cryptography Timeline of cryptography Hash functions Cryptographic hash function List of hash functions Homomorphic encryption End-to-end encryption S/MIME Category Commons

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [ChatSecure](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatSecure) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatSecure?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.