Recently when the news about WhatsApp data leak surfaced, everyone was disappointed in this Meta app. This app promises end-to-end encryption but allegedly 500 million users’ data was put on sale anyway. When these things happen, people start looking elsewhere. I have seen many people turn to the Telegram app. And now there is another open-source app called Tox that promises anonymous encrypted secure messaging for everyone.
Tox is an alternative app for chatting and calling over the internet. It offers all the same features as any other messaging app. It is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and FreeBSD. It is a FOSS (free and open-source software) application and anyone can examine its source-code.
Tox offers instant chat and the text messages are encrypted with very powerful algorithms. It uses open-source networking and cryptography libraries like NaCl. Only people who you are talking to are able to see the message. In addition, you can call your friends over Tox. It also offers video conferencing with other users of Tox. All of these communications take place over highly secure connections.
Tox is also very useful when troubleshooting something on your computer. You can share your screen with your friends over Tox who can guide you in doing something you are finding very confusing. You can also share files with other Tox uses over a secure connection.
Tox uses a distributed network of servers which ensure both the reliability and responsiveness of the messaging app. There are no network outages and no server down times. When the load on a server increases, its load is shifted to other servers – keeping the network always working.
Tox is completely free software. It does not ask for any subscription or offers any paid features. You are also not bombarded with unnecessary promotional messages.
You can download Tox from https://tox.chat/.