Have you seen the latest from Whisper Systems?
https://whispersystems.org/
Their app, Signal, seems to have taken the secure instant messaging world by storm. But when we tried to install it, it (like so many other of these apps) asked us to release our entire contact list (in our phones) to the app. Of course, it promised us that Whisper Systems wasn’t making any permanent record of them. But if that’s the case, why do they have to ask?! In our opinion, these secure instant messaging systems would be a lot more secure if they didn’t ask for access to the 3000 or 4000 contacts installed on one’s phone. What’s your take on Signal?
Good question! I don’t like the contact list/address book sharing neither. At least Open Whispers is not part of a data “kraken” like facebook.
We use http://hoccer.com/ which is very privacy conscious, no contact list, phone number or email address sharing needed!
https://wire.com/en/ might be an alternative, too, but I have not used it yet.