The founder of McAfee Antivirus, John McAfee, has teamed up with a new group of developers to launch a private messaging app called Chadder. The release of the application was announced in a press release and a short video on McAfee’s YouTube channel, which explained how Chadder protects messages with encryption.
Chadder may be free, but it is already going up against a variety of “secure” messaging apps that are available on pretty much every mobile OS. McAfee’s company, Future Tense Central (FTC) is working with Etransfr on this project, and according to a joint press release, the app has already been released on Android and Windows Phone and will be coming to iOS.
Despite some early confusion regarding how the encryption is applied to messages, Chadder does appear to be quite secure and private. In a time when many people have suddenly become interested in protecting their data, it is nice to see another free option on the table for texting.
The encryption is applied client-side, meaning that before a message is even sent over to Chadder’s servers, it is scrambled.
Without tons of public information about Chadder’s system, some of its biggest claims have been called into question. That being said, there is no reason to actually worry about the app’s privacy features, as they do appear to be legitimate.
Chadder Cares About Privacy
Etransfr wrote about the application as well, stating that unlike other parts of the social media industry that are “built around the consumer also being the product”, Chadder cares about a user’s privacy. Granted, I’m not sure when a texting application became the same as Twitter or Facebook, but Etransfr’s statement makes sense in terms of providing context for the app’s development and release.
The app currently has less than 1,000 downloads on Google Play and with that, a handful of complaints. According to Chadder’s description, it was released while still in beta, so many features are not yet available or fully setup. Important things (like decryption) have also been critiqued for allegedly not working either.
Summary: Private messaging app Chadder has been released on Android and will be coming to iOS shortly. The app is coming from John McAfee’s Future Tense Central and Etransfr.
image credit: futuretensecentral