Why people leave WhatsApp
WhatsApp is how the world texts – over two billion people, end-to-end encrypted messages, and it's free. The catch is who owns it: Meta. Your messages are private, but WhatsApp still hoovers up the metadata around them – who you talk to, when and how often – and quietly pulls you deeper into Facebook and Instagram's world.
The everyday gripes
- It wants your whole address book. WhatsApp really wants to upload your entire contact list to work properly – handing Meta your friends' numbers along with your own.
- The Meta creep. Constant nudges to link with Facebook and Instagram, Meta AI baked into the search bar, and ads now arriving in the app.
- Your number is your identity. Everyone you message sees your phone number, and changing it later is a genuine hassle.
- Backups aren't really private. Chat backups to Google Drive or iCloud can sit unencrypted unless you go digging through the settings to turn that on.
- Feature bloat. Channels, Status, Communities, payments – the app keeps sprouting things you never asked for.
And the bigger one – where your data actually lives
- A record EU privacy fine. Ireland's data regulator fined Meta €1.2 billion in 2023, the largest GDPR penalty ever issued, for unlawfully transferring European user data to the US infrastructure WhatsApp runs on.
- Encrypted messages, exposed metadata. The contents of your chats are end-to-end encrypted, but WhatsApp still collects the metadata around them – your contacts, timing and frequency – and shares data across Meta.
- Owned by a repeat antitrust target. Meta is fighting an FTC monopoly case in US federal court and has drawn EU Digital Markets Act enforcement over how it links WhatsApp data to Facebook and Instagram.
The good news: Europe has built messengers that take privacy far more seriously than Meta ever will – encrypted, independent, and hosted on this side of the Atlantic. Here are the four we rate highest, scored on our EuroPoints is PickEurope's scoring system. It rates each service out of 100, across legal jurisdiction, ownership, data sovereignty, and accountability. Learn more → system and ranked honestly, weaknesses and all.
1. Olvid
Olvid is our top pick, and it’s genuinely remarkable: a French messenger so secure it’s certified by ANSSI, France’s national cybersecurity agency – the first messaging app ever to earn that stamp – and trusted for French ministerial communications. It’s End-to-end encryption means only the sender and receiver can read a message. Not even the company running the service can access it. Learn more → and, unlike almost everyone else, needs no phone number or email to sign up.
The trade-off is reach: it’s the least mainstream name here, so you’ll be inviting people rather than finding them already there. But for security that governments rely on, wrapped in real anonymity, nothing else matches it.
It's the first messenger certified by ANSSI, France's national cybersecurity agency, and it needs no phone number or email at all to register – not even the anonymous-ID approach some rivals use.
The user base is much smaller than Signal or WhatsApp, so getting friends and family onto it takes real convincing, and only part of the codebase is public.
| Service | EuroPoints | Tier | Country | From | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Olvid | 100 | Certified European | France | Free | Partial |
 Threema | 95 | Certified European | Switzerland | CHF 4.99 | Partial |
 Wire | 82 | Strongly European | Switzerland | Free | Yes |
 Element | 75 | Strongly European | United Kingdom | Free | Yes |
2. Threema
Threema is the Swiss veteran – around since 2012, independent and bootstrapped, and used by the Swiss army and federal chancellery. It’s end-to-end encrypted, takes a one-time payment of about five francs instead of a subscription, and needs no phone number or email: a random ID is generated the moment you install it.
The upfront price is a small hurdle when you’re trying to convince friends to join, and while the apps are Open source software has publicly available code, which anyone can inspect, so claims about privacy and security can be independently checked. Learn more → the server stays proprietary. But as a paid-once, no-nonsense private messenger, it’s rock solid.
A one-time purchase instead of a subscription is rare in messaging, and no phone number or email is needed – just a randomly generated ID – with the added trust signal of being used by the Swiss government and army.
The paid-upfront model is a real barrier compared with free rivals like Signal, and the server staying closed-source means you can't fully verify what happens once a message leaves your device.
3. Wire
Wire leans enterprise: end-to-end encrypted messaging and collaboration built for businesses and governments, hosted in the EU and now backed by Germany’s Schwarz Group – the company behind Lidl and Kaufland. It’s fully open-source and takes security seriously enough for organisations across Europe to standardise on it.
It’s VC-backed and pitched more at teams than at individuals, so for a personal group chat it can feel a little heavier than it needs to. But if you’re kitting out an organisation, it’s excellent.
It's built for organisations that need real compliance and audit trails, not just casual chat, and the encryption protocol has been independently reviewed by academic cryptographers.
The interface is more enterprise-oriented than consumer messaging apps like Signal, and the free tier is limited if you want the full collaboration feature set.
4. Element
Element is the federated option, built on the open Matrix protocol – the same technology trusted by NATO, the European Commission, and the French and German governments. It’s fully open-source and self-hostable, so you or your organisation can own the servers outright rather than trusting anyone else’s.
It’s UK-based rather than EU and VC-backed, which is what keeps it a notch below the others on our score, and Matrix’s flexibility comes with more setup and a rougher edge than a polished consumer app. But for control and openness, nothing here goes further.
It's built on the open Matrix protocol rather than a proprietary one, so you're never locked into a single vendor, and self-hosting is a real option used by organisations like NATO and the European Commission.
The interface has more moving parts than a simple app like Signal, since Matrix's flexibility – rooms, bridges, federation – comes with real complexity, and self-hosting well takes genuine server admin effort.
The verdict
For the most secure, most genuinely private messenger, Olvid is the standout – government-grade and refreshingly anonymous. Want a proven, independent Swiss option you buy once? Threema. Kitting out a team or an organisation? Wire for managed simplicity, or Element if you want to self-host and own every byte. Whichever you pick, your conversations stay out of Meta’s hands – which is the whole point.
Frequently asked questions
What's the best European alternative to WhatsApp?
Olvid tops our EuroPoints ranking with a perfect 100 – it's French, certified by the national cybersecurity agency, and it doesn't even need your phone number. Threema is the proven Swiss option if you'd rather pay once and own it outright. The right pick depends on whether you want maximum anonymity, a one-time purchase, or something for a whole team.
Isn't Signal the best private messenger?
Signal is superb, and we'd never talk you out of it – but it's run by a US non-profit on US infrastructure, so it doesn't make our European list. If your priority is keeping data under European jurisdiction, the picks here do that; if it's purely encryption quality, Signal is still excellent.
Do I have to give out my phone number?
Not with these. Olvid and Threema generate an anonymous ID with no phone number or email required – a real step up from WhatsApp, and even from Signal, where your number is your identity.
Will my friends actually be on these?
Honestly, not yet – none of them has WhatsApp's two billion users. The trick is to pick one and invite the handful of people you message most. For a family chat or a friend group, that's usually a five-minute job.
Are these really more private than WhatsApp?
Yes. WhatsApp encrypts your messages but still collects the metadata around them and shares data across Meta. These apps are built to minimise metadata, several need no personal details to sign up at all, and every one keeps your data under European rules.
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