The idea of using a phone number to register didn’t appeal to me. As soon as you use a personal identifier to register for a service (however secure that may be), you are giving away a part of your identity.

The reason Threema found a place in our list of best secret texting apps is primarily because of anonymity. Now before you draw conclusions and install either one of these apps, we will compare Signal vs Threema to give you a holistic perspective of which messaging app should be your top choice. Unlike Signal, it doesn’t require your phone number to sign-up, which is why I gave the app a try. While Signal can be an easy first choice for privacy fanatics, another messaging app called Threema based out of Singapore is often pitted against Signal in multiple tech forums. So much so that even Elon Musk suggested users replace WhatsApp with Signal. So you can find Threema users from your contacts without telling them that you use Threema (unless you text them via Threema of course).The Signal messaging app saw a steep rise in the number of users after WhatsApp updated its privacy policy. You can also tell Threema to search your own contact list for contacts who have Threema without the necessity to share your own phone number.

Even if you don't allow that contact to see receipts for the messages he sent to you. And you still can see those receipts yourself if your contact allows you to see them.

BTW: With Threema you can decide for every single contact if this contact recieves a 'read receipt' or 'typing indicator'. For Signal I have got a significantly larger user base which is probably due to the fact that it is for free and people get more pleasant features they like from WA (e.g. I think if you consider all the trade-offs between security, privacy and usability (which goes hand in hand with a decent number of users), these two messengers are the only choice.

Threema vs signal