Montréal, Canada - December 20, 2016
Secure Group, a leading provider of encrypted communications, today announced the release of version 1.10.0 of its Secure Chat application for Android smartphones. Secure Chat is an OTR-based peer-to-peer application that provides the highest level of encryption for instant messaging and supports two-factor authentication, encrypted video and file sharing.
The 1.10.0 version comes with optimized battery consumption and introduces several innovative features like search per conversation, hide contacts and chat messages, which can’t be found in any other encrypted chat service.
- Improved battery consumption
A main concern for users that install mobile security tools on Android smartphone is the impact these apps have on battery life. Now, Secure Chat uses four times less battery when in background mode. There’s also an improvement in battery consumption in active mode, so users can chat longer in private. The difference is most noticeable in smartphones using versions of Android OS older than 6.0.1.
- Search in messages
Adding search functionality in the most secure chat application is a hard job to do. No other OTR encrypted IM app so far provides this extra to the user. That’s why we are so excited to announce its availability in Secure Chat 1.10.0. You can now perform searches in all messages within a conversation, as the searched text is highlighted and marked with bold in the message itself. This way, a user can find in a glance exactly what they’ve been looking for. The results are conveniently ordered by date and the user can scroll through them in both directions.
- Hide contacts
For the first time, Secure Chat allows the user to hide contacts and chat sessions by entering a four-digit PIN code. The hidden contacts are completely invisible for other people: they are stored in a separate section of the contact list, which is accessible only after entering the PIN in the search field. Logically, all messages with a hidden contact are automatically covered from the chat history for complete protection from prying eyes. What’s more, Secure Chat will hide by default all group chats when at least one of the contacts in the chat is hidden. When a hidden contact writes to the user, the latter gets a notification only for the number of the new messages, without a mention of the sender’s name. The messages can only be opened with the user’s PIN code.
- Hide conversations
One more innovative feature introduced with the new release, is the user’s ability to hide and unhide conversations from the chat list. All hidden conversations are stored in a separate invisible chat list, protected by a four-digit PIN code. After entering their code and accessing the list, the user can open the hidden conversation, or unhide it. When new messages from a hidden chat arrive, the application displays a notification only with the number of new messages. In order to read it, the user needs to enter their PIN code.
- Even more flexible History management
Secure Chat is known as one the encrypted services with the most flexible history management. So far, the application has been allowing users to set an expiration period (FYEO) and Time to live (TTL) for their messages. Keeping users’ convenience in mind, Secure Group further improved this functionality by adding the options for fast deletion of chat history directly from the conversation screen and clearing the account history prior to a specific date or for a specific period. In addition, the history in a recent chat section is now listed by time, not by alphabetical order, which is more intuitive and saves time.
In the new release, there are also minor improvements on internet connectivity statuses and fixes. The latest build is already available at the Google Play store.
About Secure Chat
Secure Chat is a premium, feature-rich encrypted instant messaging service, which utilizes the OTR protocol over XMPP. It is provided by Secure Group, and is available for users on Android, Blackberry, and Secure Group’s proprietary Secure Phone encrypted mobile device. Secure Chat provides 256-bit AES encryption and notably the app does not store any data sent through its channels.
About Secure Group
Secure Group is a provider of encrypted communications solutions for users on Android, Blackberry and the company's proprietary Secure Phone encrypted mobile device. Secure Group's complete suite of services relies on the latest trends and uses the most robust protocols and concepts for protected privacy over mobile and wireless networks. The company has established a global network of partners and Secure Group's services and devices are offered worldwide, and provide top-quality protected communications for hard-to-beat prices.
For more information and contacts, visit SecureGroup.com
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