A partner to Thoughtcrime Labs' secure voice application,?RedPhone Beta, the free TextSecure :: Private SMS/MMSfor Android brings seamless encryption to your text messages. An attractive solution for the paranoid, or elected officials who wouldn't otherwise be able to resist sabotaging their careers.
Easy Setup
Like RedPhone Beta, TextSecure is designed to be as accessible as possible. Upon startup, the app prompts you to create a passphrase and then copies your existing SMS and MMS messages into a new encrypted database. That way, even old messages on your phone will be unreadable to anyone attempting to access them. Your original messages will remain in their existing location, though TextSecure gives you the option to delete them. TextSecure aims for truly end-to-end protection, encrypting your messages at rest on your phone, and when they're flying through the air.
When reviewing apps, I like to take screenshots of the setup process so I can refer to them later; I was pleased to note on the Samsung Galaxy Note II that the app prevented me from grabbing screens, both during the set up process and once the app was running. However, users should note that this behavior is not consistent across all Android models. On my Samsung Galaxy S III I was able to capture a screenshot of the set up procedure, but the app only allowed all-black screenshots later.
Sending Messages with TextSecure
Writing a message from within TextSecure is similar to the way standard messaging app works. You type out a phone number, enter name of a contact, or search contacts and favorites in the address field. Below, you type your message and can attach media to your texts. The app can also handle group text messages, and will automatically send known TextSecure users encrypted messages and plain text messages to non-TextSecure users.
Like RedPhone, TextSecure is seamlessly integrated into Android. Once installed, you can send secure texts from the built-in messenger app and TextSecure will handle it from there. Unlike RedPhone, TextSecure does require a wireless data connection and cannot send messages over Wi-Fi.
Users should note that messages sent from the built-in messenger will be automatically encrypted, if the recipient also has TextSecure, and the message will be copied into the app's encrypted database. However, a plaintext version will be visible in the sender's built-in messenger app, which strikes me as problematic.
More importantly: when you receive an encrypted message from another TextSecure user, if you've recently entered your passphrase to the app, the message will appear in the notification center in plain text. While this does make using TextSecure much easier, it does mean that your messages are completely visible on your screen?potentially without warning. This is why it's important to a time limit for how long the app can keep your passphrase cached (more on this later).
Users should note that they can quickly un-cache their passphrase from the notification center. An open padlock in the upper right-hand corner of the screen indicates that the passphrase is cached, and the phone is potentially insecure. Simply open the notification center, tap on the "Passphrase Cached" entry in the notification center. The text of incoming messages will not be displayed in the notification center, and you'll have to enter your passphrase the next time you try to open TextSecure. From the TextSecure settings menu, you can also select to not have messages displayed in the status bar but they will still appear in the notification center.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/WwmSyVZ7K-4/0,2817,2415629,00.asp
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