I served 60 years ago in military intelligence, so I know metadata info is just as valuable as the actual contents of your messages... and now it's much easier to collect! Also, some of Telegram's third-party add-on apps might contain spyware to gain access your bank account and credit card passwords, your Social Security number, etc. Meta's WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger make Meta billions of dollars by selling your metadata to its advertising customers and possibly to the government. Telegram is popular with its over 700,000,000 monthly users and does not sell your metadata to advertisers, but is owned by two Russian brothers and is not as secure. To contact me, go to telegram.org/dl and install Telegram, then message me by my username "@RDHosken".

Signal has just 50,000,000 users, and by default (you don't have to choose it for each message) always encrypts end-to-end all of your messages and never stores your and your contacts' metadata or your messages on its servers, or allow any add-on apps. With Signal, just like in Telegram, WhatsApp and FB Messenger, you can text, make voice and video calls, and set up groups, but always securely and without selling your metadata.

On Signal your texts, voice and video calls are free: it is a non-profit organization supported by donations. It is also open-source code so the public can inspect it to be assured it is secure. The Signal app by default encrypts messages end-to-end on your phone (Android or iPhone) and stores them in an encrypted database on your phone before sending them.

You can optionally install Signal on your computer and sync it with your phone, then your messages are displayed on your computer but are only stored encrypted on your phone. If you change phones, be sure to "Transfer account" to your new phone before you delete it on your old phone! So do this now: install Signal on your phone! (I "eat my own dog food" - I've done this and the things in Part Two).

Signal no longer lets you make it be your default SMS app because this makes Signal less secure. So after you've installed Signal, to have secure communication with your other contacts who don't have Signal, click on "Invite friends" in Settings and "Share" the invite message with them using another messaging app: "Let's switch to Signal: https://signal.org/install", then personalize the invitation: "Hi, Fred!" and send it to them.

If you have Signal, want to join me on Signal and you have me in your Contacts or know my mobile number, or send a Signal text message to "@RDHosken.24" asking me to add you. Signal is the most secure because your messages are stored encrypted and only on your phone, not on any server, and Signal doesn't keep your "metadata."

The only way your messages on Signal could be compromised is if thieves, hackers, or the authorities get access to your phone and open Signal, they could see the messages. You can, however, have "disappearing messages" that are erased after a set time. You can use stickers, have up to 8 people in a voice or video call and up to 1,000 in a texting group. Signal is free, like almost all of the secure browser, social media, and email apps and steps that I describe in Part Two.