Wickr Me, the free encrypted messaging app, is to shut down on Dec. 31, 2023, and will stop accepting new user registrations on Dec. 31, 2022, Wickr said in a blog post.
The platform was acquired by Amazon Web Services in June 2021, and it offers secure end-to-end encrypted messaging, including text, photos, videos, and file attachments across Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows devices.
The company added that it would be moving its focus on securing “our business and public sector customers’ data and communications” with its non-consumer paid platforms AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise instead.
Wickr’s high-strength encryption, which the company claims “would take trillions of years” to break has made it popular with all Department of Defense agencies, as well as journalists and whistleblowers. Before it was bought by Amazon last year, the firm benefited from a $1.6 million investment from Q-Tel, a CIA funding arm, and according to VICE had signed a $900,000 contract with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
But the app has come under scrutiny for reportedly not doing enough to crack down on the exchange of child sex abuse images: in June NBC News reported that Wickr Me had become a “go-to destination” for such content. Wickr has also been used as a tool by dark net drug dealers.
In its shutdown announcement post, the company said it was working on enabling business and public sector customers to communicate with individual users outside their network on AWS Wickr. Wickr added that it would provide more information in the coming months on actions current Wickr Me customers can take to preserve their data.
WhatsApp remains the biggest free secure messaging app on the planet, but Signal and Telegram are other popular alternatives. Last month, Signal announced it would drop support for unencrypted SMS in its Android app, and said it was testing an Instagram-esque stories feature.