Silent Circle (software)

Silent Circle was a secure communications firm that offered encrypted voice, video, and text messaging services, primarily focused on privacy and security. The company was founded in 2012 and officially dissolved in 2017.

Silent Circle distinguished itself through its focus on end-to-end encryption, meaning that messages and calls were encrypted on the sender's device and could only be decrypted on the recipient's device. This prevented eavesdropping by third parties, including Silent Circle itself.

Key components of Silent Circle's offerings included:

• Silent Phone: A mobile application for secure voice and video calls, as well as secure text messaging. It utilized ZRTP encryption for voice calls and other protocols for text messaging.

• Silent Text: A secure messaging service that allowed users to send self-destructing messages.

• Blackphone: A smartphone developed by Silent Circle in partnership with Geeksphone. It was designed with security and privacy in mind, featuring a hardened version of Android (PrivatOS) and pre-installed Silent Circle applications.

Silent Circle aimed to provide users with greater control over their data and communications, particularly in an era of increasing surveillance and data breaches. The business model initially revolved around subscriptions to its secure communication services.

Following the dissolution of Silent Circle in 2017, key personnel and technology were integrated into a new entity called Wickr, which continued to offer secure communication solutions. Wickr was later acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2021.