Upgraded Secure Communications Applications I am Now Using

I am upgrading the security of my communications while still being easy to use. I thought I would share what I currently use in case it is helpful to copy and I would appreciate comments.

I want end-to-end encryption so nobody can intercept what I am saying (unless they have infected my phone or computer, but that is another issue), and bonus points for making it so that it is unknown who I am communicating with and when (private metadata and traffic). Skype, phonecalls, sms/texts, slack and email are now known to not be private (at least by default) thanks to Edward Snowden. This is too bad since I still use these.  (Slack is not end-to-end encrypted even for direct messages, which it could and should.) So far I have only partially achieved the first step: end-to-end encryption. I am migrating to:

• Signal for point-to-point instant messaging replacing sms and skype. Free software, free of cost, and open source, works on smart phones, and with a chrome-based desktop Signal app on my Mac (which is what I mostly use).   It uses phone numbers as identifiers, which is kind of a pain.  EFF friend called this “best of breed” for security. Small development staff. I have donated.
• appear.in for 1-on-1 and small group video chat that is end-to-end encrypted replacing Skype. This does not require a download or an account. Go to the homepage, type a bunch of characters to make a meeting room, then send the resulting url to someone and they can use that throw-away meeting room.  Super easy. Uses webrtc (now standard in browsers), and https with it, they say it is end-to-end encrypted.   They have a iphone app as well, but don’t know about security. This does not seemed designed for super high security, but seems to be pretty good.
• zoom.us for larger group video chats replacing Webex. Free of cost for most of my uses, easy to use (requires download, but is super easy) . It says it is end-to-end encrypted with a little lock icon when in use and encrypted.
• Facetime occasionally on my iphone replacing cellphone calls to friends with an iphone.  Apple says that it is end-to-end encrypted.
• Thunderbird + Enigmail to sign all email, receive encrypted email, and sometimes sending encypted Email, with an organizational email server (archive.org not gmail).  Enigmail is moderately hard to set up, I had help in a meetup.  Cost free, and I believe free and open source software. I am donating.
• encrypted notes file (the mac Notes app) on my mac for high priority secure notes. It syncs the encrypted file with my iphone via icloud.
• Breadwallet, bitcoin wallet on my iphone, for small amounts of bitcoin for casual purchases.  Super easy and a full wallet (does not hang off a server). Love this wallet. Cost free.  I invested a tiny amount of money in the company– great guys.
• Torbrowser for private web browsing beyond Firefox’s Private browsing feature.  Free and open source software, cost free. I have donated.

Any comments or ideas are welcome. I realize have traded off security for ease of use.  I hope stronger tools get easier and I suggest we all invest in tools based on donations and development help.  I wish I knew my mac and iphone were not compromised.  Not sure how to do that.

I have tried ricochet as an instant messaging client that secures who I am talking to via Tor, easy to use, but few I know use it, so I don’t use it often.  I have tried encrypting my email using pgp via enigmail but have run into trouble with others being able to read it, so I do not encrypt email by default. As an aside, encryption is related in a funny way to content-addressible systems, which is a different subject, but this is magic and the future.

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