New Secure Private Messaging App

There's a new private messaging app just released that seems to be tailor-made for provider-hobbyist communication. It's called Bleep by BitTorrent. While similar to other messaging apps like WhatsApp, iMessage and Google Voice, here is where Bleep differentiates itself:

• No Personal Info Required: To get started with Bleep, all that is required is choosing a nickname. You can share your Bleep key wherever you like, and no one will have any of your other details. Optionally, you can verify your email addresses and mobile numbers with Bleep, which will let your friends discover you through Bleep when they open an account.

• In Your Hands, Instead of the Cloud: Messages and the encryption keys for images are stored on your local device, not the cloud. For messages and metadata, there is no server for hackers to target, and because you hold the keys, images can’t be leaked to haunt you later. BitTorrent claims it has “solved” serverless peer-to-peer messaging.

• Adding friends is easy: Invite friends via your device’s address book, their email address, mobile number, or Bleep key. In situations where you want to add a friend in person, you can scan/share a Bleep code.

• Free Voice Calls: Start a Bleep-to-Bleep call with any online contact by tapping the phone icon at the top of your text conversation. Calls are connected directly (with a cloud service) with end-to-end encryption.

• Cross-platform: The mobile apps work over cellular or Wi-Fi connections, while the desktop apps have essentially feature parity except that they can’t yet send images (only receive them). Each device you own is registered with Bleep separately, but you can add your friends to each device to stay in touch.

• A new whisper function to Bleep for both mobile and desktop (though it works best on Android and iOS). In short, whisper lets you send ephemeral messages; just tap “Go to Whisper” to ensure both text and pictures disappear from devices after they’ve been viewed (after 25 seconds). I think it also prevents screenshots from being taken on the device. May be a good option to send pics that can't/won't be saved.

Bleep seems to be all about user privacy. No more hobby phones. All you need to connect is a nickname.

I'm curious as to what you guys in Hobby Land think of this. Would you consider switching to this app?

Upon suggestion from another provider I am actually considering getting a more secure phone (VoIP???), so I will definitely consider this option

Thanks for the info jr!

Thanks for the post - I hadn't heard of this one before. It seems like it needs some more work, I'll follow it. I use threema - which doesn't have true voice calling, but is stable - and uses end to end encryption, is anonymous and has gotten pretty good reviews by security people in the know.

This sounds very interesting. Thank you for sharing this.