# Silence encrypted SMS app

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Silence encrypted SMS app and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Encrypted SMS app that some people recommend for private texting and automatic call rejection. Common caveat: encrypted messages can be lost after a phone change or reinstall.

## What people warn about

- Messages lost after phone change or reinstall (1 comments): "when you changed phone / reinstalled you would receive the encrypted message" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49017935))
- F-Droid source code no longer available (1 comments): "I stopped using it when f-droid said the source code was no longer available." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690251))
- Not recommended for regular people (1 comments): "Both are not something I'd recommend to regular people" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45840537))
- Lack of interop forces everyone to switch (1 comments): "the lack of interop and needing to make everyone move again soured me on the whole thing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49690151))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Signal](https://hackerapproved.com/p/signal.md): 486 recommend
- [Bitchat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bitchat.md): 56 recommend
- [Element](https://hackerapproved.com/p/element.md): 50 recommend
- [Briar](https://hackerapproved.com/p/briar.md): 50 recommend
- [Delta Chat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/delta-chat.md): 48 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Silence encrypted SMS app", https://hackerapproved.com/p/silence/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).