# Choosing a messaging app for your XR group
If you want to create a group chat for your XR group, there are loads of
different options and making the right choice can be difficult. In this
document we will compare the four apps most commonly used by XR groups:
[WhatsApp](https://www.whatsapp.com/),
[Telegram](https://telegram.org/),
[Mattermost](https://mattermost.com/), and
[Signal](https://www.signal.org/) - which should help you to decide
which is best for your group.
We have broken down the comparison into four categories:
- **Security** - How easy is it for the authorities to access your
personal information and read your messages? (see the
[Appendix](#why-does-security-matter) for more information)
- **Accessibility** - How easy it is for rebels to use the app?
- **Features** - What features does the app have that allow you to
organise effectively?
- **Discoverability** - How easy is it for rebels to find and join the
group? (see the [Appendix](https://rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk/link/603#bkmrk-appendix) for more information)
#### Key Security Information
Mattermost takes quite a different approach to security than the other
apps. Instead of employing tactics such as end-to-end encryption and
self-deleting messages, Mattermost prevents the authorities from
accessing your group's messages by storing them on our own secure
server.
The best thing to do to protect ourselves and XR is to use a process called **'Air-gapping'** and is broadly used in gov agencies, military and corporate sectors. It's a trick they don't want us activists to know and use!
Air-gapping simply means we communicate any action planning and organising using a **private** Mattermost channel or direct message and then send specific details such as car registrations, credit card numbers and addresses using an app that is end-to-end encrypted and has self-deleting messages (Signal is best). This creates a gap between the planning and those specific details and ensures that if an adversary manages to get their hands on one account, they don't have all the pieces of the puzzle to sabotage an action, nor pair up individuals with a particular action plan, nor put faces to words with intent to commit crime (etc).
**PLEASE NOTE:** If you are discussing anything 'spicy' / illegal, ensure all members of your private Mattermost channel or group Direct Message, have their email notifications set to **Never**. This adds a level of security as emails potentially can be compromised or 'hacked'. To check your notifications, select the Settings icon - Notifications - Email Notifications - Edit - Never - Save.
[](https://rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk/uploads/images/gallery/2023-03/image-1677690042215.png)
# Summary
If you don't want to read the document in full, here is a quick breakdown of the different scores for each messaging app:
| | 
**WhatsApp** | 
**Telegram** | 
**Mattermost** | 
**Signal** |
| ---: | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| **Security** | 
| | 
| 
|
| **Accessibility** | 
| | | |
| **Features** | | | | |
| **Discoverability** | | | | |
Ultimately which tool you decide to go with comes down to what you and
the other people in your group are comfortable with. However, our
recommendations can be summarised as:
**If your group\...**
- **\...organises lots of different things at once**
Use Mattermost. The extra features and discoverability should
really help to make your group more productive.
- **\...organises a lot of actions**
Use Mattermost combined with Signal for the added security. Also don't forget to enable disappearing messages.
# WhatsApp
WhatsApp is a hugely popular messaging app with over [2 billion
users](https://backlinko.com/whatsapp-users). It's easy to use and the
vast majority of rebels will already have it installed on their phones.
Does this make it a good fit for your XR group?
## Security
Despite being end-to-end encrypted, WhatsApp has a number of serious
security issues that make it a poor choice for serious organisation in
XR. To start with, it is owned by Facebook, a company whose income
depends on collecting people's personal information. You can read
WhatsApp's [privacy
policy](https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/updates/privacy-policy-eea) to
get an idea of the sorts of information that they are collecting.
Another serious and often overlooked security issue with WhatsApp is
that its end-to-end encryption often does not work. Most WhatsApp users
enable an option called 'Chat Backup' so they can recover their messages
in case they lose their phone. If this option is enabled, for even a
single person in a WhatsApp group, then that means that all of the
group's messages will be stored, unencrypted, on either a Google or
Apple-owned server, freely accessible to the authorities.
**Verdict:** 
## Accessibility
WhatsApp has a lot in common with other messaging apps so it is usually
quite straightforward for rebels to learn how to use it. However, in
order to sign up to WhatsApp you need a smartphone, which not all rebels
will have access to. In order to use WhatsApp on a computer, the
smartphone that it's linked to must be connected to the internet
continuously, which is a hindrance.
**Verdict:** 
## Features
You can\'t save messages for later or mark them as unread so you constantly
lose key info and can\'t find it again. The message
box is small and you can\'t thread effectively so it is difficult to keep track of a
conversation.
**Verdict:** 
## Discoverability
Within WhatsApp, group admins can create and share links that rebels can
follow to sign up to the group. This provides a quick and easy way to
invite new people. However, unless this link is published somewhere for
rebels to find, it is impossible to find the group to join in the
conversation.
**Verdict:** 
## Other information
Another issue with WhatsApp is that many people use it to speak to
friends and family. Having XR-related chats on the same platform can put
unnecessary stress on rebels who might want to temporarily 'switch off'
XR communications in order to avoid burnout.
# Telegram
Telegram is a great messaging app filled with features. In particular it
has broadcast channels which can be fantastic for sharing information
widely. But is it suitable for group chats?
## Security
Although Telegram's
[website](https://telegram.org/faq#q-how-secure-is-telegram) would have
you believe otherwise, Telegram actually provides the worst security out
of all the apps being compared here
([source](https://www.makeuseof.com/telegram-security/),
[source](https://hackernoon.com/7-reason-why-telegram-is-insecure-by-design-but-millions-still-flock-to-it-ignoring-privacy-concerns-qq1o344c)).
One of the reasons why this is the case is because **Telegram group
chats are not end-to-end encrypted**. Telegram does allow users to have
[secret](https://telegram.org/faq#secret-chats) chats with
[self-destructing
messages](https://telegram.org/faq#q-how-do-self-destructing-messages-work).
However, this is not available for group chats so all of the messages
that you send to a group chat will be stored on a server somewhere
accessible to the authorities.
Another serious problem with Telegram's security is that **messages are
sent using Telegram's own [private encryption
protocol](https://core.telegram.org/techfaq#q-why-did-you-go-for-a-custom-protocol)**,
as opposed to something used more widely. This means that it has not
been as thoroughly tested and many [security
vulnerabilities](https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/amp/multiple-encryption-flaws-uncovered-in-telegram-messaging-protocol)
have been exposed in the past.
**Verdict:** 
## Accessibility
Telegram is one of the most accessible apps available. You don't need a
smartphone to sign up, just a phone number, and it can be used on
[practically any
device](https://telegram.org/faq#q-which-devices-can-i-use).
**Verdict:** 
## Features
You can\'t save messages for later or mark them as unread so you constantly
lose key info and can\'t find it again. The message
box is small and you can\'t thread effectively so it is difficult to keep track of a
conversation. It\'s limited in terms of formatting messages and if you
want to broadcast and add an image there\'s a character limit so you
have to be able to either fit your message into that limit or miss out
key info.
**Verdict:** 
## Discoverability
Telegram has some excellent features that make group chats easy to find
and join. Like Signal and WhatsApp, users can share a link to the chat
that people can use to join it. However, you can also search for public
Telegram channels from inside Telegram. This makes it easy to find and
contact broadcast groups but can also lead to spam since anyone can join these channels - even if they are not a member of XR.
**Verdict:** 
# Mattermost
Mattermost is the messaging app that has been specially set up by XR for
rebels to collaborate with each other. It is quite different to the
other apps being discussed because it is designed to be used by teams in
a workplace as well as for personal communications. Unlike the other
tools, it also exclusively runs off of [renewable
energy](https://datacenterlight.ch/en-us/cms/hydropower/).
## Security
Mattermost takes quite a different approach to security than the other
apps. Instead of employing tactics such as end-to-end encryption and
self-deleting messages, Mattermost prevents the authorities from
accessing your group's messages by storing them on our own secure
server.
The best thing to do to protect ourselves and XR is to use a process called **'Air-gapping** and is broadly used in gov agencies, military and corporate sectors. It's a trick they don't want us activists to know and use! Air-gapping simply means we communicate any action planning and organising using a **private** Mattermost channel and then send specific details such as car registrations, credit card numbers and addresses using an app that is end-to-end encrypted and has self-deleting messages (Signal is best). This creates a gap between the planning and those specific details and ensures that if an adversary manages to get their hands on one account, they don't have all the pieces of the puzzle to sabotage an action, nor pair up individuals with a particular action plan, nor put faces to words with intent to commit crime (etc).
Another great advantage to using Mattermost is that if rebels ever get
arrested, they can have their [accounts temporarily
suspended](https://rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk/books/online-tools-for-communicating-with-other-rebels/page/compromised-account-procedure)
so the police would not be able to read any messages even if they took a
rebel's phone. Once the rebel gets out of custody they can then have
their account reactivated.
**Verdict:** 
## Accessibility
You do not need a smartphone to sign up - only an email address - and
you can easily use it on any device unlike some other apps (e.g.
WhatsApp) that only work if linked to your phone.
If you have a computer it is very easy to use since you don't have to
install anything - just use your browser. This also means that the
messages can be easily read on a larger screen.
**Verdict:** 
## Features
Mattermost has by far the most features out of the apps being compared.
It is specifically designed for use by teams, as opposed to personal
messaging, and so has a number of advantages over the other messaging
apps.
For example, in Mattermost [chats are
organised](https://rebeltoolkit.extinctionrebellion.uk/link/394) into
teams, public channels, private channels, and direct messages. This
makes it easy to navigate between different chats. Also, Mattermost has
a much better way to handle multiple conversations happening in the same
channel at once. Whilst the other apps allow you to quote reply to
individual messages, Mattermost has threaded conversations so you can
see the full history.
You are also able to **save messages** for yourself which makes finding links and key info much easier, **mark messages as unread** to revisit later, **Pin** important messages so other people in the chat can find them easily and **store regularly used links such as Minutes and meeting links in the channel Header** for everyone to use removing the need to bookmark/store those links on personal devices.
Writing messages in Mattermost is also more powerful. Not only are you
able to edit your messages after you've sent them, but you can use
[Markdown to format your messages in fancy
ways](https://mattermost.com/blog/laymans-guide-to-markdown-on-mattermost/).
Great for making eye-catching announcements!
There is a small learning curve when you use Mattermost for the first
time because, being designed for teams, it is laid out differently to
the other apps. The design is practically identical to other popular
messaging apps like [Slack](https://slack.com/) and
[Discord](https://discord.com/) so if you are familiar with those you
will have no issues.
**Verdict:** 
## Discoverability
**One of the main reasons why XR uses Mattermost is to make groups
discoverable.** Every group that signs up to the [XR UK
Hub](https://auth.extinctionrebellion.org.uk/) will have
public and private group chats created on Mattermost for them as the Hub does the 'heavy-lifting' for you. Having your group on the Hub means the Hub does the work of creating your Mattermost channels (as well as Cloud folder and Forum spaces) and the group's members will be joined automatically to the group's chats and at the same time, given access to the Cloud folder and Forums.
Every group that signs up to the Hub gets a public group chat called a **RECEPTION** channel so, if you're not a member of the group, contacting the group is as simple as searching for and joining the group's Reception. Having public discoverable Receptions is a major advantage over other apps as you can quickly see if a channel already exists for a specific group or topic. After joining a Reception you can then chat to the group and if you want to get more involved, you can be sent a Hub invite to the group which automatically adds you to the group's private channel. You can't search for chats on WhatsApp and Signal and can only find big public channels on Telegram which leads to similar channels being regularly created for the same purposes on these other apps. This can lead to burn-out for chat Admins as there often isn't the capacity to administer these additional chats and in addition, rebels get added to multiple chats for the same group increasing the number of chats they need to monitor which quickly leads to individual burn-out.
You can also use the [Hub structure
view](https://auth.extinctionrebellion.org.uk/xrgroups/structure?id=35)
to find other groups and get information such as their email address,
website and social media account.
This is why **we strongly recommend that your group at least signs up to
Mattermost and the Hub** as it provides an easy way for other groups to
get in touch with you.
**Verdict:** 
 |
# Signal
## Security
Signal has unquestionably the best security out of all of the apps
compared here. Chats are always [end-to-end
encrypted](https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007320391-Is-it-private-Can-I-trust-it-)
and you can enable [disappearing
messages](https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007320771-Set-and-manage-disappearing-messages).
Furthermore, Signal is actually
[open-source](https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-source). This
means that anybody can look at [Signal's source
code](https://github.com/signalapp) and verify that it is secure.
**Verdict:** 
## Accessibility
Has complicated features like [Signal
PIN](https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059792-Signal-PIN).
**Verdict:** 
## Features
Signal has much of the same features as WhatsApp and Telegram. Whilst
this makes it easy to learn how to use, it also means that:
- It is hard to write longer messages in the small message box
- It is difficult to keep track of multiple conversations happening at
once
- Once you have sent a message it can't be edited
Signal can also be problematic for rebels who have limited storage on
their phones because the messages are stored locally instead of in the
cloud, and this can take up a lot of space.
**Verdict:** 
## Discoverability
Just like WhatsApp, you can share links to Signal group chats allowing
people to quickly join the group. This is great for signing people up
but it is hard for rebels to find this link and join the group.
**Verdict:** 
# Appendix
## Why does security matter?
Given the types of actions XR does, **it is essential that the
authorities do not get access** **to rebels' personal information and
private messages**. This is for a number of reasons including:
- It could compromise the legal defences of arrestees
- It could affect the right of rebels to stay in the UK
When discussing security in the context of messaging apps, there are two
main things to think about:
- Can my messages get intercepted?
- Where are the messages getting stored?
The first of these is straightforward - to make sure messages cannot be
intercepted we need to make sure that the app uses secure encryption
when sending messages. The second, however, is a little more complicated
as it depends on terms like "end-to-end encryption".
End-to-end encryption is used by a number of messaging apps. What it
means is that the messages are stored on the phones sending and
receiving the messages, rather than on some server. This is generally
good from a security standpoint because the authorities would need to
access one of the phones in order to see the messages; something much
harder for them to do than approach the owners of the server with a
warrant.
Another important things to consider when choosing a messaging app is
whether or not you want to have [disappearing
messages](https://www.wired.co.uk/article/whatsapp-signal-disappearing-messages).
These are messages that are automatically deleted after a certain time
period, usually around a week or so. This can provide an additional
layer of security on top of end-to-end encryption.
Lastly, one extremely important thing to bear in mind when discussing
security is that **by far the biggest weakness in XR's security is the
people**. It is very easy for an undercover police officer to pose as a
protester and get themselves added to a 'secure' group chat. Once that
happens, any security features of the messaging app become irrelevant
since the authorities can see everything that is getting discussed.
## Why does discoverability matter?
Discoverability - making your group easy to find and get in touch with -
is a huge issue for XR. We are a decentralised organisation so each
group has the freedom to decide how they want to organise and
communicate. This is fantastic from the point of view of [mitigating for
power](https://extinctionrebellion.uk/the-truth/about-us/), but it makes
it difficult to share knowledge and skills across groups. To try and
reduce this problem, it is important when choosing a messaging app to
think about how other rebels and groups can find the group and get in
touch with you.
## Alternative messaging apps
There are many other messaging apps used by rebels in XR. We have just
chosen to focus on the most commonly used ones here. Some other popular
choices include:
- [Discord](https://discord.com/): An app with some great features but
[extremely poor security and
privacy](https://cybernews.com/privacy/discord-privacy-tips-that-you-should-use/).
## Useful links
- [Electronic Frontier Foundation: Thinking About What You Need In A
Secure
Messenger](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/03/thinking-about-what-you-need-secure-messenger)
- [A Guide to Group Chats on Signal, Whatsapp and Telegram](/books/a-guide-to-group-chats-on-signal-whatsapp-and-telegram) book on the Rebel Toolkit