The most secure messengers, according to the study, include Threema, Wickr, Signal and Wire. The company found that they have high reliability of cryptographic protocols and algorithms.
In this, Threema and Wickr are the best at keeping user data safe - they do not collect and send contact information when used anonymously.
Unlike the latter, Signal necessarily collects user numbers, and Wire collects data for Google Analytics and stores unencrypted local data in the desktop version.
The Molfar report notes that Telegram, Viber, Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and Discord are not the safest for users.
Telegram collects phone numbers and id, and transfers data to special services on their request. Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger and Discord store data without encryption and transfer information to third parties and special services. Wickr and Signal can also transfer personal information of users to foreign law enforcement agencies.
At the same time, Whatsapp, Telegram and Facebook Messenger are distinguished by mandatory phone number binding and closed source code. The last two messengers do not have end-to-end encryption in group chats.
Based on the information in the Molfar report, the most secure messenger in 2021 is Threema. It also has the best functionality: own servers, anonymous registration and adding contacts without a directory server. Among the disadvantages: closed server code and the lack of self-destructing messages.

How the research was conducted
The key group of criteria for Molfar's research was data security, which covers the largest number of points. The company analyzed external security audits of messengers, interviewed cybersecurity experts and selected 27 evaluation criteria, divided into groups:
Cryptography;
Data security;
Functionality;
Other (date of the last audit, monetization methods, additional legal protection, availability of company transparency reports, stakeholder influence).
For the analysis, Molfar selected messengers according to one of three criteria:
the most popular among users by rating in the AppStore and Google Play;
messengers that position themselves as anonymous and safe for users;
recommendations of cybersecurity experts from Ukrainian IT product companies.