Wickr’s free encrypted messaging app is shutting down next year


Wickr Me, the free encrypted messaging app owned by Amazon Web Services, is shutting down on December 31st, 2023. In a post on its website, Wickr says the app will stop accepting new user registrations on December 31st, 2022 before going away completely next year.
AWS acquired Wickr last year and started packaging the paid version of the secure messaging app within its offerings for businesses. This version of the app, Wickr AWS, isn’t going away, and neither is Wickr Enterprise. The shutdown only affects the consumer-facing Wickr Me, which is often used by journalists, whistleblowers, and anyone looking to keep their messages away from prying eyes.
However, recent reports suggest the app has become an outlet for criminals, with NBC News reporting in June that the app is “a go-to destination” for people who want to share images of child sex abuse. It’s also been implicated in the past as a hub for drug dealers who’ve been forced off the dark web.
“After careful consideration, we will be concentrating Wickr’s focus on securing our business and public sector customers’ data and communications with AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise, and have decided to discontinue our consumer product, Wickr Me,” the post reads. “We also realize that some of our business and public sector customers use Wickr to communicate with individual users outside their network. We’re focusing on enabling this in AWS Wickr too.”
Wickr Me, the free encrypted messaging app owned by Amazon Web Services, is shutting down on December 31st, 2023. In a post on its website, Wickr says the app will stop accepting new user registrations on December 31st, 2022 before going away completely next year. AWS acquired Wickr last year…
Recent Posts
- The iOS 18.4 beta brings Matter robot vacuum support
- Philips Monitors is now offering a whopping 5-year warranty on some of its displays, including a gorgeous KVM-enabled business monitor
- The secretive X-37B space plane snapped this picture of Earth from orbit
- Beyond 100TB, here’s how Western Digital is betting on heat dot magnetic recording to reach the storage skies
- The end of an era? TSMC, Broadcom could tear apart Intel’s legendary business after 57 years by separating its foundry and chip design
Archives
- February 2025
- January 2025
- December 2024
- November 2024
- October 2024
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- September 2018
- October 2017
- December 2011
- August 2010