Wickr vs TextSecure
When comparing Wickr vs TextSecure, the Slant community recommends TextSecure for most people. In the question“What are the best encrypted messaging apps for Android?” TextSecure is ranked 5th while Wickr is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose TextSecure is:
Uses Curve25519, AES-256, and HMAC-SHA256. The security of these algorithms has been tested over many years of use in hundreds of different applications. Messages sent via TextSecure are end-to-end encrypted, which means that they can only be read by your intended recipients. We make it easy for you to verify that you are communicating with the right people and that no MITM attack has occurred. The keys that are used to encrypt your messages are stored on your device alone, and they are protected by an additional layer of encryption if you have a passphrase enabled.
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Pros
Pro Doesn't require a phone number
Unlike most, you can use your phone but you don't have to. You can register without giving anything and add contacts either via e-mail (only) or phone number.
Pro Content shredder
Wickr has a feature that not only erases all messages, but also overwrites them with junk data.
Pro Can find other users securely
Instead of using usernames, emails or phone numbers to find other users, Wickr uses hashes derived from phone numbers or email addresses (this applies to the find friends functionality only). Hashes are the result of a one-way cryptographic function, meaning it's purposefully difficult to reconstruct original data (phone numbers and email addresses in this case) from them. For Wickr, hashes are generated on the client's side so that no personal information is ever sent to the Wickr servers. The app finds people on your contact list that also use Wickr by comparing the hashes that get generated from contacts and comparing them to the hashes that are stored on Wickr servers.
Pro Group messaging
Pro Messages have user-defined lifespan
Messages can have a lifespan between 3 seconds and 6 days. Received messages arrive locked. Once they are opened by the recipient, a timer starts counting down until the message is deleted. Of course, the recipient can still copy them or take a screenshot.
Pro By default, doesn't allow taking screenshots
Wickr disables the screenshot functionality altogether when the app is open. However, there are ways to circumvent this, as if the user has a rooted phone and has installed apps to overide this block or if a screenshot is taken via some apps that project the screen to a PC.
Pro Includes a basic photo editor
The editor allows cropping images, drawing and writing text on them as well as add decorations.
Pro Strong encryption
Uses Curve25519, AES-256, and HMAC-SHA256. The security of these algorithms has been tested over many years of use in hundreds of different applications. Messages sent via TextSecure are end-to-end encrypted, which means that they can only be read by your intended recipients. We make it easy for you to verify that you are communicating with the right people and that no MITM attack has occurred. The keys that are used to encrypt your messages are stored on your device alone, and they are protected by an additional layer of encryption if you have a passphrase enabled.
Pro Free and open source
TextSecure is free and open source, enabling anyone to verify its security by auditing the code. TextSecure is the only private messenger that uses open source peer-reviewed cryptographic protocols to keep your messages safe.
Pro Passed EFF's security review
To pass EFF's security review TextSecure had to encrypt data in transit, the encryption had to be end-to-end, the app needed to provide forward secrecy, app's source code has to be open to independent review, users have to be able to verify contact's identities even with the service provider compromised, app's cryptographic design has to be well documented and app's source code has to have been audited in the last 12 months.
Cons
Con Partially Open source
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Con Small user base
Wickr claims that one million users have downloaded the app with no information on how many active users they have. But even if every person that has downloaded the app is an active user, the userbase is really small compared to apps like WhatsApp that boast about hundreds of millions of active users.
Con No data messaging
TextSecure can send SMS and MMS messages only. It can't send data messages.
Con Not available on tablets
TextSecure is currently not compatible with tablets. Support for tablets is promised in the future.