Chapter 2 - Messaging / Email Apps

Messaging apps are one of the most popular uses of phones, however, messages from many messaging apps can be obtained by police. Even if your phone is locked and police cannot hack into it, police can often obtain a warrant and retrieve your messages from the company that provides the messaging service. 

It is critical that you choose a messaging app that does not keep the messages either on the phones or the provider's systems. An excellent option for this is Signal. First, Signal messages are fully encrypted - on your phone, in transit, and on the recipient's phone. Second, Signal will delete messages from the phone after a specified period (configurable). 

After installing Signal, to maximize security, it is important to configure Signal correctly. Under Settings -> Privacy select "Default Timer For New Chats" and set it to a reasonable value (1 hour is recommended). Under Settings, make sure Screen Lock,  Screen Security,  and Incognito Keyboard are enabled. More Signal configuration information is available at https://media.cert.europa.eu/static/WhitePapers/TLP-WHITE-CERT-EU_Security_Guidance-22-002_v1_0.pdf

Make sure to never use SMS messaging for any communications you want to keep private - SMS is not encrypted and all SMS messages are logged by wireless carriers.

For email, an excellent choice is Proton Mail. Proton Mail is a secure email service hosted in Switzerland and has an excellent record in regards to privacy. Proton Mail has a free version. More information on Proton can be found at https://proton.me .