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SimpleX gears to replace WhatsApp with its Web3 messaging protocol

 

By Nerly Shammah Jul 09, 2023

 

You could say that SimpleX is the next step in achieving WhatsApp on Web3, the first messenger without user IDs.

 

 

Since the inception and success of Bitcoin, the concept of blockchain-powered products and services have travelled far and wide with Web3 playing a crucial role in what is picturized as a distributed and decentralized internet.

 

Financial systems, diverse protocols, data management systems, and social networks, all have witnessed revolutionary competitors make an entrance in the quest to usher in a new standard for the digital space, the Web3-powered standard that enhances the utilization of blockchain technology and cryptographic algorithms for the design of systems and protocols. 

 

WhatsApp Web3 is a concept that has been explored by a couple of companies already and SimpleX comes with its own unique design that takes privacy and security of data up a notch.

 

SimpleX addresses the very one thing that deanonymizes individuals in the digital ecosystem - Identifiers(IDs). 

 

When you look at messengers like WhatsApp, Signal, Matrix, Session, Briar, Jamie, Cwtch, they all function with identifiers, so although all run their own unique encryption protocols that supposedly keep user data private to the conversing parties, the overall design allows for a third-party to have access to the information passed through messages on these end-to-end or p2p encrypted messaging platforms. 

 

In our article, how does WhatsApp make money, we talked a little about WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption technology which it claims to have supposedly redesigned to keep the company away from having any access to user conversation - a move which, reportedly, was triggered by the demands made by the authorities to the company to turn in its encryption keys. 

 

This wasn't the first time an external entity has tried to gain access to private user data, in fact, numerous apps are being designed and launched on applications stores specifically for the purpose of spying on users and transferring their data to diverse locations. 

 

These data are sometimes leveraged for practices that cause direct harm to individuals and other times simply taken up by businesses in the advertising and marketing agencies to place targeted ads at individuals to scale their various businesses. 

 

With social networks being one the largest spaces for data mining, it is becoming increasingly crucial to have Web3 alternatives to all legacy social networks like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and even search engines. 

 

Twitter has had numerous Web3 alternatives falling through with the most notable being leofinance, WhatsApp on Web3 has had alternatives like Status, which hasn't made the impact it was envisioned to, and most recently OP3Ns' Superapp is in the works for WhatsApp Web3.

 

That said, compared to all these alternatives, SimpleX stands out extensively with its fully end-to-end encrypted messenger with no identifiers.

 

SimpleX is building WhatsApp on Web3 using what is called "pairwise anonymous addresses" of unidirectional message queues which takes away the need for the platform to identify each user. 

 

This process is separate between sending and receiving messages, a concept it likens to having a burner phone or email for each contact, so SimpleX servers or observers cannot tell how many people use their service. 

 

Isn't that crazy? A company that doesn't use backdoors at least to store user data for some dirty businesses, why would anyone not want to know just how much of a success his business is via the users' data? 

 

Well, SimpleX is open source which simply takes the stakes up on the authenticity of what it supposedly delivers.

 

SimpleX protects users from spam by taking away the need for IDs, so users can only be contacted by those they share their links with. 

 

It is also stated that given that these optional addresses can be shared to a wider audience and thus lead to spam contact requests, users have the ability to change or completely delete it without losing any current connections. 

 

If SimpleX doesn't use IDs, how then does it store user data?

 

Data storage and security largely depend on format, with SimpleX, user data are stored on client devices in a portable encrypted database format.

 

This enables the users to easily transfer or export their data to other supported devices. 

 

That said, it is important to note that end-to-end messages are held temporarily on SimpleX relay servers until they are received and then get deleted permanently. 

 

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Unlike federated network servers (email, XMPP or Matrix), SimpleX servers don't store user accounts, they only relay messages, protecting the privacy of both parties.

 

There are no identifiers or ciphertext in common between sent and received server traffic — if anybody is observing it, they cannot easily determine who communicates with whom, even if TLS is compromised. - SimpleX

 

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SimpleX is an open protocol and just about anyone can build atop it. 

 

Asides from being a key contributor to the future of WhatsApp-style messengers on web3, a variety of services can be built on the SimpleX network that taps into the values of its protocols.