By now you may have gathered I'm a bit obsessed with communication :-)

There's a free phone app I've been using for over 4 years called Telegram. It works on Android, iPhone, Windows, Mac, and a web browser. It's fast and easy to use. It's the oldest and most stable of apps of its kind. It has many convenient features, including a "walkie talkie" mode and a "phone call" mode. Every word, sound, video, and image leaving your phone is automatically encrypted. It also makes group communication very easy.

You can get it at https://www.Telegram.org.

Some important points about Telegram:

Myth: Default chat; encrypted or not?

An important thing to know about telegram is there are two types of messaging you can engage in; one is "default/normal" and one is "secret". Contrary to what the competition is saying, BOTH TYPES OF CHAT ARE ENCRYPTED. The only difference is that "default/normal" chats/groups go thru the Telegram servers and are on their servers until you delete the chat, which is easy to do. "Secret" chats/groups are peer-to-peer direct between devices, so a bit more secure. "Default/normal" chats have some convenience features, including the ability to seemlessly continue a conversation across multiple devices. For example, if you are out and about, having a conversation with someone using your phone and you get home. You now want to continue that same conversation using your computer because yay keyboard.

Some of the best features

Walkie-talkie fun

Try holding down the microphone button and saying something. I call this the "walkie-talkie" feature. If some time you see a camera icon instead of the mic icon, all you have to do is do a quick tap of the icon to toggle it.

Telegram group chat works better than trying to do group texting using your phone's default texting app

Especially, if you are on an iPhone trying to do group texting with people on both iPhone and Android phones or visa versa.

Telegram has a phone feature that works great. Call anywhere for free

Both parties must be using Telegram. I use this feature to communicate with clients who are in other countries or who want to be sure our communication is private or when friends want to have a private conversation.

You can set a lock to keep others from opening the Telegram app on your phone.

Being around for so long and catering to user needs, it has a HUGE number of users

This means your friends are more likely to already be using Telegram. Install it and if you give it access to your address book, you will be notified of all your friends who are using it.

"A friend was telling me not to trust Telegram"

Short answer: They are wrong.
Long answer: Here's an article I wrote up on private communication in general and Telegram vs. Wire, et al, specifically:
https://steemit.com/facebook/@scottermonkey/why-using-facebook-messenger-hurts-us-all

WatchOut for WhatsApp

On last tidbit. A similarly popular encrypted messaging app, WhatsApp, is owned by Facebook and Facebook has already been caught sharing data from WhatsApp with government entities.