This Snowden-Approved Encrypted-Communication App Is Coming to Android

Since it first appeared in Apple’s App Store last year, the free encrypted calling and texting app Signal has become the darling of the privacy community, recommended—and apparently used daily—by no less than Edward Snowden himself. On Monday the privacy-focused nonprofit software group Open Whisper Systems announced the release of Signal for Android, the first version of its combined calling and texting encryption app to hit Google’s Play store. It’s not actually the first time Open Whisper Systems has enabled those features on Android phones; Open Whisper Systems launched an encrypted voice app called RedPhone and an encrypted texting program called TextSecure for Android back in 2010. It’s easier to get people to install one app than two,” says Moxie Marlinspike, Open Whisper Systems’ founder. That’s where most of our effort goes.” Open Whisper Systems’ encryption tools already have a wide footprint: According to Google Play’s stats, TextSecure had been downloaded to at least a million Android phones, all of which will now receive the Signal app in a coming update.