Wickr: Claimed To Be A Safer Snapchat

(wickr_2013CNN) — On the Internet, a truly private conversation is hard to come by.

Personal communications on apps, e-mail and social networks are very much an open book, and they leave a trail of personal data that can potentially be accessed by criminals, corporations and government agencies.

No wonder more and more people are using apps whose messages quickly disappear from phones once they’ve been read.

Take Wickr, a self-destructing messaging app that takes security very seriously. The free app has been available on iOS for a little more than a year and on Monday, it expanded its reach to a wider audience with an Android version.

There are many security advantages to this type of communication. The format makes it difficult for recipients to share, forward and spread messages. Any sensitive photos or texts have a better chance of not becoming a permanent artifact on the Internet. They are also deleted from the companies’ servers (or in the case of Wickr, never stored on a company server), making it difficult for hackers, criminals or government agencies to retrieve old conversations.