What if the best alternative to WhatsApp was French? Meet Olvid!

Why is everyone leaving WhatsApp?

It has been all hands on deck since the latest announcements from the world's most popular messaging app, WhatsApp. The platform that until now dominated the market and in which everyone placed their trust unconditionally may well have made a serious mistake by wishing to modify certain of its founding principles — the very principles that built its success.

A brief history of the mighty WhatsApp

As a reminder, WhatsApp was originally a cross-platform mobile application offering end-to-end encrypted instant messaging. A feature mentioned at the start of every conversation or call, if you pay attention. Their marketing mantra.

Launched by two former Yahoo! employees in early 2009, WhatsApp quickly established itself around the world and consequently caught the eye of investors. In 2014, Facebook acquired the platform for the modest sum of €22 billion. By 2020, WhatsApp had more than 2 billion users.

Today, it is precisely that close link with the king of social networks, Facebook, that is causing concern. For although WhatsApp has faced numerous criticisms and doubts about its encryption principles since its acquisition, these had until now proved unfounded. Experts had even demonstrated that the principle was being respected.

But what happened?

What a surprise it was at the start of the year when the instant messaging giant announced that its privacy rules were going to change. By calling into question what had been its greatest strength, WhatsApp has very likely shot itself in the foot.

And with good reason: users appreciate the app because it allows them to communicate freely with the (near) assurance that their data remains confidential and is not shared for commercial purposes with other networks — something that most social media platforms do, notably to deliver targeted advertising to you.

WhatsApp was therefore on the verge of implementing what everyone had feared: sharing your personal data, notably with its "acquirer"… Facebook.

Faced with the outcry on social media and in the press, WhatsApp actually decided to delay these changes by 3 months. Initially planned for 8 February, they would therefore take effect in early May, on the 15th. Watch this space!

Olvid, the French messaging app more secure than WhatsApp

We are seeing many articles at the moment about Signal, and with good reason — this American instant messaging application has been among the top downloads since the announcements made by the (until now) giant WhatsApp.

But did you know that a French alternative, more secure than both WhatsApp and Signal, exists? It is called Olvid, and you should adopt it!

The genesis of Olvid

Olvid is the project of two Doctors in cryptography (Thomas Baignères and Matthieu Finiasz) who wanted to offer a (genuinely) fully encrypted instant messaging solution with the ambition of replacing WhatsApp for both businesses and private individuals.

For Thomas Baignères, CEO and co-founder of the app, WhatsApp is an "illusion of security". He explains that due to the way the American application works, it in no way guarantees the secure exchange of data.

WhatsApp indeed relies on a third party to connect you with your contact and then encrypt your conversation. This third party is ultimately nothing more than an enormous directory containing the contact details of every user. For Thomas Baignères, this is where the problem lies: you cannot entrust your data — and consequently a part of your private life and identity — to a third party. Imagine if that directory were malicious or if its sheer scale attracted hackers? Millions of pieces of data could potentially be harvested and reused (perhaps against you).

Olvid, more secure than Signal and Telegram?

But what about Signal or even Telegram, which seem to be gaining traction lately (already +32 million users since the WhatsApp announcements)? The principle is the same for both applications. Signal was developed using the same model as WhatsApp and uses the same connection and data encryption procedure, via a directory.

The reason Signal is so highly praised is that whistleblower Edward Snowden reportedly uses it daily, and also because the application focuses all its efforts on data protection. Reassuring, certainly, but not really sufficient for Olvid's co-founder.

As for Telegram, things appear even worse. End-to-end encryption, championed by other applications, is not this one's strong suit. If you wish to carry out secure exchanges, you will need to activate data encryption in the settings. But — and there is a but — this option is only available when you are exchanging one-to-one. In short, if you do not activate this feature or if you want to start a group conversation with more than two people, encryption will not be applied. Not to mention the directory principle, which is also used here.

Why does Olvid appear to be the best solution?

The answer might seem simple — and yet, this is precisely the secret behind the application. Olvid simply decided not to let a third party / a directory / a server act as the guardian of its users' security. Far too risky, as you have seen.

"Putting security back in the hands of the user" is Olvid's ambition, as Thomas Baignères reminds us.

But how does it work in practice? First of all, it is important to know that the French application requires none of your personal data — not even your name, phone number, or address book. As the co-founder points out, "when something is free, you are the product". This is why Olvid does not collect your data — it is the guarantee that it will not be resold.

And yet Olvid is also a free messaging app. This is made possible by the paid features the application offers. Options currently aimed primarily at professionals (encrypted voice and video calls) but which are continuously expanding.

How do you use Olvid?

To use the app, you simply download it — but as you will discover, no registration is required, which is extremely rare. You are not actually creating an account since everything remains local, on your smartphone.

Steps to follow to get in contact with someone:

• Choose a username that will be your identity for the conversation

• Share this identity (username) with the person you wish to contact (via QR code, email, SMS…)

• Your contact must invite you using this identity

• Accept the invitation

• Exchange the two 4-digit codes you each have (to make sure that the person adding you is indeed the intended contact, it is recommended that you exchange these codes verbally)

The secure channel is now created between the phones participating in the conversation.

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Olvid is available on iOS and Android, completely free in its instant messaging version. It is the first application of its kind to receive CSPN certification (First Level Security Certification) from ANSSI (the French National Agency for Information Systems Security).

Have you tried the application? What are your impressions? Are you ready to use it? What are your concerns?