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Ricochet Refresh

Shares rank 34 of 48 messaging apps by recommenders

People recommend Ricochet Refresh for private chat and file transfer over Tor, and call it the best privacy candidate they have seen.

People recommend Ricochet Refresh for private chat and file transfer over Tor, and call it the best privacy candidate they have seen.

9 people gave an opinion

recommend it
7
criticize it
2
approval share
78%
Each figure is one person. RecommendsCriticizes

Recommended in 4 of 13 months

  1. November 2025: recommended
  2. December 2025: recommended
  3. January 2026: recommended
  4. February 2026: not recommended
  5. March 2026: recommended
  6. April 2026: not recommended
  7. May 2026: not recommended
  8. June 2026: not recommended
  9. July 2026: not recommended
  10. August 2026: not recommended
  11. September 2026: not recommended
  12. October 2026: not recommended
  13. November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)

Why it doesn’t carry the badge

  • 7 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
  • 3.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
  • Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.

The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works

What people say about it

The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.

Why people recommend it

Each mark is one comment

  • Chat and file transfer over Tor

    “Chat and file transfer over tor”

    Comment from 13 Mar 2026 in “E2E encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after 8 May”

    “chat via Tor .onion circuits”

    Comment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE”
  • Seen as strong privacy option

    “Ricochet Refresh is the best candidate as far as privacy goes”

    Comment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper”

    “There are alternatives, try Ricochet (Refresh) or Cwtch.”

    Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “Gpg.fail”

Other messaging apps people recommend

The four most recommended other messaging apps, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.

Ricochet Refresh compared with 4 alternatives
ProductRecommendCriticizeApprovalMonthsOwnedBadge
Signal48633060%139 yrs5 owners—
Discord40073335%1210 yrs24 owners—
WhatsApp30050337%122 yrs3 owners—
Telegram22921152%1210 yrs4 owners—
Ricochet RefreshThis page7278%4——
See all 48 messaging apps, ranked

What people said

7 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.

“Chat and file transfer over tor”

RecommendsComment from 13 Mar 2026 in “E2E encrypted messaging on Instagram will no longer be supported after 8 May”

“chat via Tor .onion circuits”

RecommendsComment from 29 Jan 2026 in “Kash Patel says FBI is investigating Signal chats of Minnesotans tracking ICE”

“There are alternatives, try Ricochet (Refresh) or Cwtch.”

RecommendsComment from 28 Dec 2025 in “Gpg.fail”

“should fit what you describe”

RecommendsComment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Writing a blatant Telegram clone using Qt, QML and Rust. And C++”

“If you need metadata-privacy by design, you're better off with purpose-built tools like Cwtch”

RecommendsComment from 15 Dec 2025 in ““Super secure” messaging app leaks everyone's phone number”

“games using the likes of Vanguard (Riot), Javelin (EA) and Ricochet (Activision) which really mess around with your system on kernel level”

CriticizesComment from 29 Nov 2025 in “Wine 10.20 Released With VKD3D 1.18 Upgrade For Direct3D 12”

“Ricochet Refresh is the best candidate as far as privacy goes”

RecommendsComment from 13 Nov 2025 in “Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper”

Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.