Messenger

Messenger often stays on people’s phones even when they’re trying to use Facebook less, but you should treat it like any other Meta product. It may feel like just a messaging app, but it still sits inside the company’s ecosystem and continues to generate metadata around communication and engagement.

That matters more than you might think. Messaging apps reveal a lot even when they aren’t reading message content directly. The people you contact, how often you message, and when you’re active still make it a weak choice for users who want to reduce their data footprint.

Signal is again the easiest recommendation if private communication is the goal. It doesn’t offer the same social-network benefits you might find with Messenger, but for many people, that might actually be an advantage.