Android users now have the ability to make secure audio and video calls directly from their device. These calls are encrypted and have arrived by the way of Silent Circle. The app itself is called Silent Phone. Those interested will be able to find the app in the Google Play Store and while it is free to download, you will actually need to be a Silent Circle subscriber to use it.
That being said, lets get into what the app offers. In the simplest form, Silent Phone allows you to call other Silent Circle members (over 3G, 4G or Wi-Fi ) and have that call be fully encrypted from end-to-end. In fact, you get a sense of the security from the first launch of the app — it opens asking for a provisioning code. And for those wondering, that code will be given when you create your Silent Circle account.
Touching on the security aspect, Silent Circle has said that Silent Phone uses device-to-device encryption technology which means that “only the users have the keys exchanged on their device for each call” and that the “keys are not held on a server.” Furthermore, Silent Phone is described as using TLS and the ZRTP protocols to encrypt the packets. Moving over to the requirement of having an account — and yes, this does mean a cost.
For users signed up under the $20 per month plan, you will get a “silent” phone number which can be used to make secure calls to other Silent Phone subscribers. Silent Circle refers to this as “Inside the Circle” calling, which is just that — the ability to call other Silent Phone users. There is also an option to upgrade to a $29 per month plan which includes the ability to call those who are not Silent Circle subscribers provided they are in the US, Canada or Puerto Rico.
Bottom line here, if you are looking for the ability to make encrypted calls on your Android smartphone, Silent Phone looks like a viable option to consider for voice and/or video. And in addition, Silent Circle also has a Silent Text app, however that is still noted as coming soon for Android.
[via Google Play]
Or you can use Mocana’s KeyTone…which is free and has the same (if not better) encryption technology.