Dubai-based app Oh! Message makes privacy a priority

Service will fully encrypt conversations and won't store them on its servers

Dubai-based chatting app Oh! Message will protect users' privacy with 'self-destructing' messages. Haian Nayouf

A popular instant messaging app based in Dubai has introduced security features aimed at strengthening privacy for its users.

Oh! Message, which hopes to rival WhatsApp and iMessage, has increased its security to protect users' identities and fully encrypt conversations, which are not stored anywhere on the app's servers.

This week, developers announced new features that include “self-destructing” messages. These will be deleted from both users' accounts after 10 seconds, regardless of whether or not they have been read by the recipient.

Haian Nayouf, co-founder and chief of communications at Oh! Message, told The National that such features attract new users because they feel more secure.

“Users find unprecedented privacy using our app because there are no servers recording their messages for any purposes such as marketing and sales,” Mr Nayouf said.

“Users can now enjoy the fact that their messages disappear from the sender's account after 10 seconds.”

While some global messaging apps already have privacy settings and features that delete messages, Mr Nayouf said most of those apps all store their user's personal data, as well as their conversations on their servers.

“The user's data can be exposed, hacked or used for commercial objectives. That is not privacy,” he said.

The new features also include not being able to take screenshots of conversations, as well as link-sharing to protect users from scammers.

“Criminals who are specialised in conning people by sending links can't use Oh! Message since it does not allow link-sharing,” Mr Nayouf said. “This app is a major solution provider in the field of privacy and safety of conversations.”

Oh! Message was launched in 2021 by Dubai entrepreneurs Haian Nayouf and Mohammed Othman. The app was initially available in English and Arabic. However, the app is now available in over 10 languages, including French, German, Russian, Spanish and Chinese.

The app's end-to-end encrypted messages are limited to 100 characters, while audio messages only allow for 10-second recordings. Oh! Message was also among the first in the market to hide online statuses, a feature that other global apps such as WhatsApp announced only in 2022.

According to Mr Nayouf, the app's security and privacy features — which are mandatory — have been the pull factor to attract and retain users. The app's popularity is rising in countries where privacy and security are paramount, with the majority of users living in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, China and South Korea, as well as France and Germany.

Mr Othman and Mr Nayouf have now implemented a five-step development stage to bolster the privacy and security features to expand the business.

Mr Nayouf added: “We are now in talks with potential investors from the Gulf region, India and China to fund the stages to make our privacy features and security settings even better.”