What Is the Most Secure Video Conferencing Software?

Now that millions of people are practicing social distancing and working their office jobs from home because of coronavirus, video conferencing is more popular than ever. Whether you're just attending your regular work meetings, grabbing a beer with friends, or catching up with your extended family spread across the globe—all these fun activities now live thanks to video conferencing apps.

The people’s choice, more often than not, is Zoom. But it doesn’t have to.

While Zoom offers end-to-end encrypted chat—meaning only the participants in the exchange have access to the contents of the messages—its video calls are not encrypted in the same way by default. Hosts, however, can enable end-to-end encryption in video calls too, according to the company.

The app has a troubled record when it comes to security and privacy. Thanks to a creepy feature, hosts can track whether you are paying attention to the meeting, and the company’s privacy policy allows it to collect all sorts of personal data.

Last year, Zoom had a flaw that allowed hackers to turn on someone’s webcam without their consent, and without them noticing. On top of that, when someone had the Zoom app closed and even uninstalled, the software left a web server up and running, allowing for an automated install of the app if someone invited the user to a Zoom call. Finally, Zoom makes it really hard for you to join calls without installing the app, even though that’s possible.

So, what other apps can you use instead of Zoom?

FACETIME

The obvious choice, if you have an Apple device, is FaceTime. Apple’s video (and audio) conferencing app has been end-to-end encrypted for a very long time. On top of that, it’s incredibly easy to use, and allows for up to 32 participants. The downside, of course, is that it’s only for iOS and Mac users. So if you use Windows, the most popular operating system in the world, you’re out of luck.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• End-to-end encrypted
• Works with up to 32 participants
• Apple is good at security

Cons:

• Only for Mac and iOS

JITSI

A great cross-platform alternative is the little known Jitsi, which is end-to-end encrypted, and has apps for Android and iOS, but also just works in a browser, without having to install anything. Jitsi is also open source, meaning anyone can inspect and contribute to the code. I have used it occasionally and it always worked very well.

Pros:

• End-to-end encrypted
• Open source

Cons:

• Open source also means it has fewer resources to get security right

WHATSAPP

WhatsApp is the most popular chat app on the planet, it’s end-to-end encrypted with state-of-the-art protocols, and is incredibly user-friendly. It’s also cross platform, although video calls don’t work on desktop. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of enterprise software, but if you're just looking to connect with a couple of friends or family, it's more than enough.

Pros:

• Uberpopular, so chances are your friends have it
• End-to-end encrypted
• Cross-platform

Cons:

• Only supports 4 people at a time
• It’s owned by Facebook

WIRE

Finally, one of our favorite end-to-end encrypted chat apps, Wire, offers group video chat, but only to paying customers.

Pros

• End-to-end encrypted with widely respected encryption protocols

Cons:

• Not available for the free version of Wire.

GOOGLE MEET

If you want something that’s easy to use, but not end-to-end encrypted, you can always fall back on Google’s alternative: Meet.

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Works well

Cons:

• Not end-to-end encrypted
• Requires a Google account

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