> Facebook mines WhatsApp metadata [1].

Thomas addressed this:

If you're worried about Facebook seeing your metadata, which is a sane worry, Wire is approximately as slick and usable as WhatsApp with mostly the same underpinnings.

> I'm not sure I'd elevate WhatsApp over iMessage

I would! Consider the following: https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2016/03/21/attack-o...

That sort of attack is not possible against WhatsApp.

From your article:

> as implemented in versions of iOS prior to 9.3 and Mac OS X prior to 10.11.4

This fall, these will both be two major versions behind the current state of the software. Considering how openly pro-privacy/pro-security Apple has been over the past couple years, I'd expect they've fixed these issues and more by now.

I'm not making an argument that Apple is infallible; I acknowledge that it's possible there are still security flaws in iMessage. But I think that Apple is the only one of the really big tech companies who seem to be taking a privacy stand that the users can get behind, which is something to applaud.

At least Wire doesn't refuse to start and works fine even if I refuse to allow it to read my contact list and the software was open sourced:

https://github.com/wireapp

Signal doesn't work without a phone number and it doesn't have a web app, otherwise it's great if you only use it on the phone.

Given that Signal was designed specifically for mobile users not desktop users, that's not a problem for its target audience.

Wire looks promising for desktop users.

Signal does have a web app. I use it every day.

Signal Desktop is hardly a web app in the sense that you open a website and you're done. You need to use Chrome and you need your phone. It's probably more secure yet rather inconvenient.