Table of contents:
- What does mobile call and message encryption mean?
- How to protect your messages and calls on your Android mobile?
- How does the Signal app work?
- This is how encrypted VoIP calls work in Signal
- Other options to encrypt your communications on Android
Encrypting mobile calls and messages is a great advance for the security and privacy of your communications. In a period where wiretapping, censorship, and limits on free speech seem to be the norm, tightening the security of the tools we use is undoubtedly a great idea.
What does mobile call and message encryption mean?
Encrypting communication means associating an encryption system that makes it much more difficult to spy. The messages use a special code that makes them incomprehensible to those who do not have the key, so that they are safe from one end to the other and only reach the right person.
Encryption or encryption is also used on computers or hard drives, for example, to protect stored information. Therefore, only the user who has the master password can access the content.
In the case of smartphones, the best option to protect our communications is by installing applications that guarantee the encryption of calls and messages from one end to the other. It is also possible, for example, to encrypt all the contents of the phone so that they are automatically erased in the event of theft, after the thief tries unsuccessfully to enter the password.
How to protect your messages and calls on your Android mobile?
Many messaging apps already offer encrypted communications through their service, albeit with certain limitations. The encryption guarantees of WhatsApp, for example, have generated a lot of doubt among users and security experts, since end-to-end privacy protection is not always assured.
Furthermore, WhatsApp and other similar applications do not directly manage the SMS you receive on your phone. Although we use them less and less, text messages are still very important in certain procedures, such as online purchase confirmations.
Almost all banks send confirmation SMS to the customer's mobile when he wants to make a card purchase on the Internet. Since these messages are directly related to financial data, it is important that we look for additional security measures to protect it.
The Signal application for Android (which you can download from the Google Play app store) offers the possibility of encrypting the text messages you send and receive on your phone, and it also has a VoIP call service "" over the Internet " “Also encrypted.
How does the Signal app work?
The first thing you have to do is download Signal Private Messenger. You can find it in the store on your Android smartphone. Google Play.
Once it has been downloaded and installed, the first step will be to register the phone number with which you will use it. It is a similar procedure to registering your number on WhatsApp.
With this step, you are telling Signal which number your smartphone uses, a necessary detail to guarantee the encryption of your messages.
The application itself will automatically detect the confirmation message that you are going to receive, and will register with the server with its own security keys.
A prompt will then be displayed for you to make Signal your default SMS app. This step is essential so that all the SMS you send and receive are protected.
Confirm the change with the warning message that Android will show you… and you can start using Signal normally!
From this moment on, all your text messages will be protected by encryption, but you will also have the option to create protected chats with your contacts and chat with them through the application, just as you would on WhatsApp.
In order to talk to your friends, you need your contacts to also have Signal installed on their phone. Through the options menu of the app you can invite them to download and use it.
When you already have contacts registered in Signal, you can create private conversations to talk to them, or groups with several members with whom you can exchange encrypted messages at the same time. That is to say: they work like WhatsApp groups, but with greater security and privacy.
Finally, as we have already mentioned, you can make phone calls through the application, and these will be fully encrypted from end to end.
This is how encrypted VoIP calls work in Signal
VoIP calls are those made over the Internet, and not directly using the SIM card with your number. If you want your calls to be encrypted, you must take these considerations into account:
- Calls will be made directly through the Signal app, and not with the call application on your Android smartphone.
- The procedure is only valid if you call other contacts who are also using Signal.
- The call needs an Internet connection on your phone, so it is recommended to use a WiFi network if you are going to call frequently and have little data contracted in your Internet rate.
- To ensure good sound quality, make sure you are connected to a WiFi network or that you have very good coverage if you are using mobile data.
If the contact you want to call does not have the Signal app installed, the option to send an unsecured SMS (not encrypted) will appear on the screen, or the possibility of making a normal call, with your SIM card, using the calling app from your Android smartphone.
But if the contact you searched for uses Signal, you will see all the encrypted communication options available.
If you write a text message using the box below, its content will be sent using Signal's encryption system. These messages start a chat that is sent over the Internet, so you will also save the price of the SMS.
On the other hand, if what you want is to make a call, you will see in the upper right corner a phone icon with a padlock next to it. This detail tells you that the voice call will be end-to-end encrypted and that it will be made over the Internet with the Signal protection system.
Other options to encrypt your communications on Android
Besides Signal, there are other applications that you can install on Android if you want to send encrypted messages or make encrypted calls.
One of the best known apps as an alternative to WhatsApp is Telegram, a messaging service that recovered a bit of its popularity when Facebook bought WhatsApp.
If you communicate regularly with your Facebook contacts, the social network's own messaging application (Facebook Messenger) also has an encryption system.
However, due to the advertising interests of Facebook, it is always interesting to know other options to be able to communicate without thinking about who may be "listening" or analyzing our messages to offer us personalized ads.
