Introduced in 2015, Tor Messenger was riddled with bugs and never really took off. Tor Project has finally scrapped its secure messenger after 11 beta builds.
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What went wrong with Tor Messenger?
As you already know, the Tor Browser is the most popular privacy-centric browser on the market.
The developers tried to replicate Tor’s success by entering the instant messaging game with a new cross-platform chatting application.
They released Tor Messenger back in 2015 and even rolled out quite a few beta builds for testers.
This messenger used Off-the-Record (OTR) Messaging, the most secure cryptographic protocol for instant messaging. Moreover, all messages were encrypted and transmitted through the ultra-secure Tor network.
Despite their efforts, the developers were still not able to make the app 100% secure. A few loopholes existed in the handling of metadata, which could potentially leak user data.
Apart from that, Mozilla’s decision to close the Instantbird project, upon which Tor Messenger was based, further complicated things.
Even though a lot of users care about privacy, it is a non-issue for the average WhatsApp user. For these very reasons, the app failed to strike a chord with users and developers finally scrapped the project.
CoyIM – Tor Messenger alternative
Tor Project recommends CoyIM as an alternative for its now-defunct messaging app.
CoyIM is a new chat client that is “safe by default” and doesn’t require any configuration or additional plugins. You can download it for testing purposes from this link.
Hopefully, the developers will find the necessary support and resources to revive the IM project in the future.
But for now, the project is as good as over and we won’t see a new secure chat client, at least for a few years.
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