The honest comparison
Only Vardum protects your whole phone.
Of the top 10 encrypted messengers, Vardum is the only one that also protects your files, notes, photos and the phone itself. On messaging alone, we’re second only to SimpleX, largely because our independent cryptographic audit is still to come. It’s planned for early 2027.
Two rankings from the same scores. Every app is scored against the same rules, and every score links to its source. Tap any app to see how its total is made.
Ranking 1 · Full phone privacy
Protecting more than your chats
Identity privacy + seized phone + beyond messaging, out of 30. A subtotal of the main table, not a separate scoring.
Ranking 2 · Top 10 encrypted messengers
All eight categories
8 categories × 10 points = a total out of 80. Where Vardum's cryptography hasn't been independently reviewed, we hold our own score one point back.
How each category is scored
What a 10 looks like
Each category is scored 0 to 10 against a fixed yardstick and weighted equally.
| Category | 10 | 7 to 8 | 4 to 6 | 0 to 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Encryption | Always on, established protocol, independently proven or audited, forward secrecy | Strong, with known gaps | Always on, but self-reviewed or missing forward secrecy | Not on by default |
| Post-quantum | Hybrid post-quantum at setup and ongoing, on by default, groups too | At setup and ongoing, but not everywhere or still rolling out | Setup only, opt-in, or partly built | Announced only, or none |
| Identity privacy | No phone, email or anything identifying at sign-up | Random ID; phone or email optional | Phone or email required but hideable | Phone number or platform account is the identity |
| Metadata | No central server at all | No user IDs, onion routing or sealed sender | Server sees who talks to whom and when | Extensive collection, shared with a parent company |
| Seized phone | Duress wipe and decoy, hardware or no-at-rest keys | Self-destruct passcode or panic wipe | App lock, hidden chats | Standard; cloud backups not end-to-end by default |
| Beyond messaging | Encrypted files, notes and more in the same app | Some extras | Notes to self, conferencing | Messaging only |
| Openness and review | Client and server open, multiple independent audits | Open with one audit or certification; open with no audit tops out at 7 | Client only open | Closed source |
| Ease and maturity | All major platforms, mature, very large user base | Multi-platform, smaller or rougher | One platform, or beta | Hard to set up, niche |
At a glance
What each app actually does
| Vardum | Signal | SimpleX | Threema | Session | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No phone number | Never needed | Required | Never needed | Optional | Never needed | Required |
| Post-quantum | ML-KEM-768, setup and ongoing | PQXDH; ratchet rolling out | Direct chats | None shipped | Being rolled out | No public documentation |
| Decoy and duress | Separate codes; duress also wipes server records | None | Self-destruct passcode | Private chats behind a code | None | None |
| Vaults and notes | Yes | None | None | None | None | None |
| Steganography | Yes | None | None | None | None | None |
| Open source | AGPL-3.0 | Clients and server | Clients and servers | Apps | Clients and network | Closed |
| Independent review | Planned, early 2027 | Multiple audits | Trail of Bits, 2022 and 2024 | Formal proof, audits | Quarkslab, 2021 | Key transparency audit |
| Platforms | iPhone (beta) | All | All | All | All | All |
From each app's own documentation and published audits, researched 16 October 2026. Links are in each app's row above. Vardum is self-assessed from its claims register, not an independent verdict.
Vardum's cryptography is self-reviewed today. When the audit is published, we'll re-score ourselves and post the report here.
Think we've scored something wrong? Tell us at support@tryveil.app and send the source. If we're wrong, this page changes.
See for yourself
Read the code, check the claims, then join the beta.