A "private and untraceable" text messaging app developed by Irish entrepreneur Kevin Abosch has been downloaded more than 30,000 times in the three weeks since its launch.
OneOne, is an ultra-private messaging app providing seven channels of discreet text messaging.
Messages are encrypted before leaving a user’s mobile device and self-destruct after 24 hours, whether read or not. Furthermore, users don’t have to set up an account so there is no login or password, nor do they have to authenticate with an email address, social media profile or phone number, adding an extra layer of privacy.
“What makes our product interesting is that you can have a discreet one-to-one conversation with another party without ever logging in or creating an account,” Mr Abosch said.
He said OneOne makes it “virtually impossible” to connect a message with its originating device, adding that the messages are encrypted twice, fragmented and put on different servers where they only stay for 24 hours.
“We don’t know who our users are, where they are or what they send through OneOne, nor do we want to. We don’t gather any data whatsoever about users of our products.”
Mr Abosch said OneOne was “battle tested” over a period of four months by a group of users across the globe comprised mostly of lawyers, C-suite executives, physicians and diplomats.
Quickly appreciated
“Lawyers very quickly appreciated the value of this product in an age when there is concern that private and confidential email conversations with clients might be subpoenaed and used against them in a court of law,” he said.
At present the app just supports text message conversations, but Mr Abosch said images and documents will be introduced in 2015, as well as a feature for group conversations.
“We’re not competing with Whatsapp and we’re not trying to take over messaging. Our app is for conversations that need privacy.”
The OneOne app was built upon the Kwikdesk platform, an internet platform which allows people to anonymously send messages of up to 300 characters that other people can find using specific hashtags.
Mr Abosch said Kwikdesk will be rolling out an enterprise communication product next year, that allows a company to communicate with anonymous users.
