Secure communications service Wickr is rolling out new free features

Wickr, the secure communications service, is bringing new features to its free users.

Already available to paying Wickr customers, users of Wickr’s “Me” service will also now be able to enjoy encrypted calling to protect against listening ears.

The company is adding end-to-end encrypted calling along with encrypted and ephemeral voice messages and memo.

These features will be available to users of Wickr’s android and iOS apps, the company said.

Wickr is also planning to release a screenshot detection tool for users, the company said.

“Today, it is clear to everybody that communications — whether it is email or messaging — are extremely vulnerable. When breached, they can instantaneously change the course of business or government,” says Gilman Louie, a Wickr investor and co-founder of Alsop Louie Partners in a statment. That is why the communication channels must not only be protected, but we must have confidence in their integrity to have any conversations of value.”

The idea behind the rollout is to enable distributed workers who may communicate with an enterprise but are contractors or other small-scale vendors to use the private encryption services without having to pay for them. While some businesses are concerned about information security, before now, not everyone could afford it, the company said.

With Wickr’s toolkit everyone has access to the same secure messaging tools including: end-to-end encrypted group video calls, screen sharing, and receive large files.

Wickr also made its source code available on GitHub so developers can audit the security protocols the company uses.