PQChat: The 'World's Most Secure' Messaging App Unbreakable by Quantum Computing

A new messaging service that claims to be the "world's most secure mobile communications app" has launched, aimed at privacy-conscious users concerned about third-party snooping and data collection.

PQChat - standing for post-quantum chat - provides an alternative to other popular messaging apps like WhatsApp, Telegram and SnapChat that offers users a service that does not collect or mine their data, while also claiming to be unhackable - even by a quantum computer.

The messaging service was developed by London-based firm SRD Wireless and is aimed primarily at the enterprise market, with business and government users able to create custom security applications to best serve their needs.

"Our business model is not to mine our users' data," said Andersen Cheng, CEO of SRD Wireless. "That's not an area we want to address. Since SRD's business model is based around selling solutions to enterprises rather than data mining, there is no need for us to hold any of this information."

Privacy has been paramount for many internet users since revelations of mass government surveillance surfaced last year through whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Other secure alternatives to social networks and messaging apps have emerged in recent months and many WhatsApp users migrated to rival platforms after it was taken over by Facebook, which itself was implicated in the spying scandal.

In March MyApollo was launched, a secure alternative to Facebook that sends users' data across a peer-to-peer network to ensure it cannot be picked up by third parties.

PQChat goes one step further by offering quantum-computing proof encryption that utilises its own Never-The-Same (NTS) technology to protect users' data. NTS employs the McEliece cryptosystem, an algorithm developed in 1978 that has never been broken.

"The ongoing Snowden revelations have brought home just how easily accessible our personal information is to the NSA (National Security Agency) or other groups," Cheng said. "Yet most people are still handing over information to data miners, spammers and criminals without understanding what they are doing."

"People need to take back control of their data: even the smallest amount of personal information can compromise your privacy and security. Modern communication tools simply aren't built with this as a priority and so make compromises in order to allow communication."

PQChat has launched on iOS and will soon be arriving on Android.