Messaging App Without A Phone Number
by MNJR | November 03, 2023 | Category: Security
Messaging App Without a Phone Number
Finding a messaging app without a phone number is difficult nowadays. Even the apps that are known for some of their security features, such as Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram, require users to provide a phone number in order to use their services.
However, at Diode, we believe secure communication should be accessible to everyone - whether or not they have a phone number or whether or not they want to provide a phone number.
Many people feel the same way - in a recent poll we conducted on X (formerly Twitter), 0% of respondents favored requiring a phone number for messaging apps.
Why Phone Numbers Present a Problem
Many people and organizations know that associating a phone number with their messaging account creates a linkage to their personal identity and the potential for abuse.
PII Exposure
Because a phone number is nearly always associated with a government-issued photo ID (which represents your identity), the linkage between messaging and phone numbers turns the message history into a form of personally identifiable information (PII). When PII is exposed, it can be used to create false identities, to target individuals for physical and cyber attacks, and to spread malicious rumors about an individual.
Social Graph Leakage
Often, “social graphs” of real persons can be exposed if anyone in your network loses physical access to their device. The exposed device can reveal the phone numbers, and can often be correlated to IDs-linked-to-phone-numbers, for everyone in the network.
Provider Abuse
Some organizations resell, or otherwise monetize, your phone number. Although Diode’s policy is never to abuse user information in this way, we don’t even ask you to trust us on this - we just never take your phone number (or even email) in the first place.
Account Control
Many apps request a phone number ostensibly so that they can help you stay secure by verifying account access via your phone. However, this makes phone number “spoofing” a way to gain access not just to your messaging account, but also to any other account you may have given your phone number to. Diode uses self-custody identities that no-one can impersonate or otherwise access.
Diode - A Messaging App Without a Phone Number
At Diode, we provide a messaging app that prioritizes both security and privacy - without requiring a phone number. This gives people and teams an option to protect their information and identity in their every day communication. With Diode, your chat history, data, and identity are inaccessible to anyone other than yourself and your network - neither Diode nor anyone outside the intended recipient can access or read them.
Our commitment to safeguarding your digital sovereignty begins with our dedication to supplying technologies, such as our mathematically secured end-to-end encrypted network, that fundamentally do not have access to information that might compromise your autonomy. This is just another way we are making communication secure for the world.
Start using Diode today - a messaging app without a phone number - one that is free, secure, and private.