Instant messaging and integrated messaging applications are one of the fastest-growing sectors in the tech-comm industry. We’re seeing high-level integrations and new features getting introduced at a quick pace, ranging from instant payment services, currency swapping, video calls & conferencing, location sharing, and more. This growth in product offerings also means that as users, we are obliged to share more and more of our personal data (even very sensitive one).
From there, instant messaging apps come with their fair share of issues relating to personal data and security. These can range anywhere from data breaches to phishing attacks. On top of this, digital identity theft has been a growing concern as assets are digitalized and associated to an app account.
With that in mind, we believe that drastic changes in the messaging app ecosystem will be needed. When, and how exactly? Let’s untangle this question in the following 5-minute read.
What’s Going On In The Messaging App Ecosystem
We have seen increasing popularity and accessibility in the use of messaging apps in the last few decades.
As of October 2022, it is estimated that there are over 4.6 billion active users in social media including messaging platforms. Over 95% of Internet users list chat & messaging as a main use case for their internet activities. Around 70 million messages are shared every minute via WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger only. The market for messaging applications is vast, and text-based messaging are becoming one of the most extensively utilized modes of communication.
However, for IM apps, the feature list will not simply stop at one-to-one messaging. Messaging apps are becoming more centralized and integrated by enabling their users to perform more complicated day-to-day tasks.
In China, it’s now a habit for people to transact financially through WeChat. This includes everything from paying for a taxi ride, ordering food, paying for your every-day transportation, or even borrowing money.
Similar examples include Line & Kakaotalk, major messaging service providers in Japan and Korea who are pursuing a relatively similar model. With this growing trend in feature development, it is very likely that we will see the majority of transactions and financial interactions occurring within messaging apps.
With such rapid growth in user base and data transmission, app users are becoming more susceptible to both internal and external risk of cyber theft, personal data hack, and privacy violations.
For example, as these apps track and study your monthly spending, shopping pattern, locations, or any other cookie you are sharing, they can gain information on the type of activities you are likely to spend money on, understand your general habits, hobbies, and potentially map out your digital identity. This poses clear security and privacy challenges for anyone who uses centralized messaging apps.
Challenges Facing the Centralized Messaging Industry
Transaction Authentication
With wallet integration and financial transaction made possible, IM app users care more and more about keeping their account fully secured and authenticated, while also simple enough to use.
Put simply, what steps will users need to take to confirm a transaction they’re making? Is it OTP, Touch/FaceID, password, to a combination of all? What steps count as “proper verification”, “secure protocols”, and to what extent are they safe from hacking attempts. In many cases, it’s also a trade-off to user’s convenience. Adding steps means a safer protocol, but also a more hassle and time-consuming one.
Personal Data Leaks
As the messaging app sector grows, users pay more attention to whether the server can keep their personal data safe from external attacks. Users information are the most often target of cyber-attacks, as this type of data can be stored and exploited in various ways.
In August 2016, Iranian hackers exploited Telegram’s vulnerability and gained access to the phone numbers of more than 15 million Telegram users. One of the most popular and convenient communication channels, mobile instant messaging apps, is also progressively becoming a medium for data insecurity and privacy issues. Whatsapp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger are prime targets for this.
Censorship Risk
For a particular body of users (whistle-blowers, activists, witness-protected individuals), the right to remain private and secure in communications in regards to law-enforcement officials.
While it is great that the average messaging app user are starting to care more and more about encryption, not every encrypted messaging app is the same. Depending on how it is set up and how its user agreement goes, your service provider may (or may be obliged to) leak metadata, contacts, and even message contents at certain points to law-enforcement officials.
Of the most popular apps, iMessage and WhatsApp are particularly susceptible to FBI & CIA interference.
This is where Ready – a versatile and powerful messaging app designed for seamless user experience with top-notch security and privacy – enters the picture.
Ready is designed to solve all of the problems above (and more).
Ready, the new revolution in secure messaging
Ready is a new-generation messaging application integrated with crypto wallets. Our messaging platform sets out to solve the security problems that come with regular messaging apps while also offering a far greater level of anonymity.
We are building a new-generation messaging app that offers one-stop access to communication, asset management, DApp exploration, and more. Sounds a bit vague and complicated? Let’s take a deeper look into what this means in terms of product features.
- With Ready, you can connect directly and anonymously via non-custodial wallet addresses. This allows full privacy and an enhanced level of security.
- We do not collect any sensitive personal data. No email addresses, ID numbers, DOBs, or addresses. This means little to no risk of data breaches and personal data violations.
- Communication history and data are encrypted. This means all photos, documents, and private chat history that you share on our apps are well-protected from hacks.
- There will be no moderators or intermediaries as well. End-to-end cryptographic encryption will be used to protect the security of messages directly sent between users. Our server won’t have direct access to your data either.
- Unlike most other messaging applications, no personal data is needed upon signing up. Ready will only ask for a wallet address (previously generated elsewhere or newly created using Ready), and you will be addressed by pseudo names based on your wallet addresses.
At Ready, our mission is to change the way private messaging is done.
We believe that privacy is not simply about keeping your personal information secured. It’s also about not collecting any in the first place.
We make sure that our users’ conversations are safe from malicious actors and eavesdropping attempts, even in groups and channels, which is hard to find elsewhere.
And we stand by what we say!
Below is some sneak peeks of the app screens and features we are developing.
- Multiple Account Login
- Choosing a chat name
- Dashboard
- Messaging/ Group chat
- Wallet Management
- Market Movement Dashboard
Everything is still a work in progress, but it won’t be long until the product is Ready (yes, pun intended)! As we move along, we’ll keep you in the loop on the development process, as well as ask for your honest opinions about the preferences when it comes to features and user experiences.
We recently launched our Beta App. You can download here and give us any feedback you might have.
- For iOS (Testflight): https://testflight.apple.com/join/9KEJFrAj
- For Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cystack.ready
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