Wickr Me, a free encrypted messaging software, will shut down in 2023 and stop accepting new users in 2022.
Amazon Web Services purchased the platform in June 2021. It enables safe end-to-end encrypted messaging for Android, iOS, Mac, and Windows devices.
The startup will focus on safeguarding "commercial and public sector customers' data and communications" using AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise.
Wickr's high-strength encryption, which the business claims "would take trillions of years" to break, is popular among DOD agencies, journalists, and whistleblowers. Before Amazon bought it last year, the company received a $1.6 million investment from CIA funding arm Q-Tel and a $900,000 contract from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Wickr Me is a "go-to location" for child sex abuse photographs, according to NBC News. Darknet drug dealers utilise Wickr.
The company stated in the post that it was working on enabling business and public sector customers to communicate with individual users outside their network using AWS Wickr. This information was included in the post that announced the shutdown of the service. Wickr also stated that it would provide additional information to current Wickr Me customers in the coming months regarding the steps they can take to preserve their data and continue using the service.
WhatsApp continues to be the most popular free secure messaging app available anywhere in the world, but Signal and Telegram are also very popular alternatives. Signal made the announcement a month ago that it would discontinue support for unencrypted SMS in its Android app. The company also stated that it was testing a feature that was similar to Instagram's stories function.
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