Wickr To Shut Down Its Free Encrypted Messaging App in 2023

Wickr's secure messaging app for consumers will soon be a thing of the past.

The Amazon-owned company recently announced it is discontinuing its Wickr Me encrypted messaging app by 2023, with it not accepting any further user registrations for the app after the end of 2022.

The app has fallen from Google Play's usage ranks since Oct. 20, with the app ranking just about 3000 on Nov. 18, according to Similar Web's findings.

Wickr Me Discontinuation Announcement Details

Wickr mentioned in a blog post it has decided, after careful consideration, to concentrate its efforts and focus on securing its business and public sector customers' data and communications through its respective apps, AWS Wickr and Wickr Enterprise.

The two apps are Wickr's secure messaging apps for businesses and public sector customers, respectively.

As a result of this deliberation, the company decided to discontinue Wickr Me, which aimed to provide the average joe with a secure means of messaging other people.

Additionally, Wickr will stop accepting user registrations for Wickr Me after Dec. 31, 2022, while it will discontinue the entire app on Dec. 31, 2023.

According to the company's statement, it understands that customers need to maintain secure communication for sensitive information and that it is working closely with customers to meet their ends through AWS Wickr.

It also learned that some of its business and public sector customers use Wickr to communicate with other individuals outside of work, and as such, Wickr promised to focus on enabling this feature in its AWS Flickr app.

This feature integration does not mean that Wickr will make AWS Wickr nor Wickr Enterprise a consumer-friendly app, as they cater to businesses and public sector customers, as previously mentioned.

Wickr advises all Wickr Me users to wait for more information on how to preserve their data before it gets discontinued.

As of press time, Wickr Me has a usage rank of 3014 on the Google Play Store.

A Haven For Criminals And Illegal Content

There is a good reason for the decline - NBC reported that child sex abusers have been distributing illegal content through Wickr Me for the past five years.

Although Amazon's Wickr Me app is not the only secure messaging app that has problems with child sex abusers, the company is noted to have not done much to proactively address the problem.

This lack of a response attracted people who wish to trade illegal content as there is a lower chance of being detected in Wickr Me than with other messaging apps.

Posts linking Wickr to child sex abuse material have also been emerging across the internet, with the publication finding abusers have been linking their Wickr Me screen names to solicit minors for illegal content or to trade with them.

John Shehan, vice president of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said that Wickr needs to do more to identify, address, and prevent the trading of child sexual abuse material on its platform.

The Verge also mentioned that the app is also used as a go-to hub for drug dealers to sell their merchandise after they were forced off the dark web.