2024 Social Media & Communication Apps

The annual Social Media App Project measures risk and privacy signals in major Android social and communication apps. The goal is to give users a clear, comparable view of how these apps handle permissions, third-party SDKs, and data collection.

In 2024, the industry average Malcore score rose 2 points to 28.96. Lower scores indicate fewer detected risk signals.

Our analysis is not a full manual code review. Malcore runs automated static analysis on each APK to flag permissions, SDK usage, and related indicators. A definitive assessment would also require manual source review and dynamic testing to observe runtime behavior. Those steps are more thorough, but also far slower and more expensive to perform at scale.

All Malcore research is self-funded, which limits how many apps we can study in depth each year. Our 2022 TikTok technical analysis, covered by 60 Minutes, went further with dedicated manual review and remains the benchmark for that level of work.

Lower Malcore scores mean fewer permission, SDK, and data-handling signals were detected during static analysis. Tuta (7) and Substack (9) recorded the lowest scores in this report, while TikTok (60) and VK.com (56) ranked highest among the apps tested.

Several apps shifted noticeably from prior editions. Instagram rose 12.45 points, Threema rose 8.9, and WhatsApp rose 6.75. Telegram fell 4 points and VK.com fell 6.7. Scores in parentheses beside each app show the year-on-year change.

Apps are listed below in ascending score order, from lowest detected risk to highest.

Tuta = 7 (+5.2)

Substack = 9

Zoom = 10

Discord = 11 (+1.4)

Telegram = 13 (-4)

ProtonMail = 15 (+3.35)

WebEx Meetings =15 (-1.1)

Facebook = 17 (+0.45)

Session = 17 (-0.25)

Threema = 25 (+8.9)

Signal Messenger = 27 (+5.2)