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Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram: Here's which secure messaging app you should use

Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram: Here's which secure messaging app you should use

If your choice of encrypted messaging app is a toss-up between Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp, do not waste your time with anything but Signal. This isn't about which one has cuter features, more bells and whistles or is the most convenient to use: It's purely about privacy. And if privacy's what you're after, nothing beats Signal.

You probably already know what happened. In a tweet heard 'round the world last January, tech mogul Elon Musk continued his feud with Facebook by advocating people drop its WhatsApp messenger and use Signal instead. Twitter's then-CEO Jack Dorsey retweeted Musk's call. Around the same time, right-wing social network Parler went dark following the Capitol attacks, while political boycotters fled Facebook and Twitter. It was the perfect storm -- the number of new users flocking to Signal and Telegram surged by tens of millions. 

Read more: Everything to know about Signal

The jolt also reignited security and privacy scrutiny over messaging apps more widely. Among the top players currently dominating download numbers, there are some commonalities. All are mobile apps available in the Google Play store and App Store that support cross-platform messaging, have group chat features, offer multifactor authentication and can be used to share files and multimedia. They all also provide encryption for texting, voice and video calls.

Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption in some portion of their app, meaning that if an outside party intercepts your texts, they should be scrambled and unreadable. It also means that the exact content of your messages supposedly can't be viewed by employees of those companies when you are communicating with another private user. This prevents law enforcement, your mobile carrier and other snooping entities from being able to read your messages even when they intercept them (which happens more often than you might think). 

The privacy and security differences between Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp couldn't be bigger, though. Here's what you need to know about each of them. 

Getty/SOPA Images

• Does not collect data, only your phone number
• Free, no ads, funded by nonprofit Signal Foundation 
• Fully open-source
• Encryption: Signal Protocol

Signal is a typical one-tap install app that can be found in your normal marketplaces like Google Play and Apple's App Store and works just like the usual text-messaging app. It's an open-source development provided free of charge by the nonprofit Signal Foundation and has been famously used for years by high-profile privacy icons like Edward Snowden.

Signal's main function is that it can send -- to either an individual or a group -- fully encrypted text, video, audio and picture messages, after verifying your phone number and letting you independently verify other Signal users' identity. For a deeper dive into the potential pitfalls and limitations of encrypted messaging apps, CNET's Laura Hautala's explainer is a life-saver. 

When it comes to privacy, it's hard to beat Signal's offer. It doesn't store your user data. And beyond its encryption prowess, it gives you extended, onscreen privacy options, including app-specific locks, blank notification pop-ups, face-blurring antisurveillance tools and disappearing messages. 

Occasional bugs have proven that the tech is far from bulletproof, of course, but the overall arc of Signal's reputation and results have kept it at the top of every privacy-savvy person's list of identity protection tools. The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times (which also recommends WhatsApp) and The Wall Street Journal all recommend using Signal to contact their reporters safely. 

For years, the core privacy challenge for Signal lay not in its technology but in its wider adoption. Sending an encrypted Signal message is great, but if your recipient isn't using Signal, then your privacy may be nil. Think of it like the herd immunity created by vaccines, but for your messaging privacy. 

Now that Musk's and Dorsey's endorsements have sent a surge of users to get a privacy booster shot, however, that challenge may be a thing of the past. 

Getty/NurPhoto

• Data linked to you: Name, phone number, contacts, user ID
• Free, forthcoming Ad Platform and premium features, funded mainly by founder
• Only partially open-source
• Encryption: MTProto

Telegram falls somewhere in the middle of the privacy scale, and it stands apart from other messenger apps because of its efforts to create a social network-style environment. While it doesn't collect as much data as WhatsApp, it also doesn't offer encrypted group calls like WhatsApp, nor as much user data privacy and company transparency as Signal. Data collected by Telegram that could be linked to you includes your name, phone number, contact list and user ID. 

Telegram also collects your IP address, something else Signal doesn't do. And unlike Signal and WhatsApp, Telegram's one-to-one messages aren't encrypted by default. Rather, you have to turn them on in the app's settings. Telegram group messages also aren't encrypted. Researchers found that while some of Telegram's MTProto encryption scheme was open-source, some portions were not, so it's not completely clear what happens to your texts once they're in Telegram's servers. 

Telegram has seen several breaches. Some 42 million Telegram user IDs and phone numbers were exposed in March of 2020, thought to be the work of Iranian government officials. It would be the second massive breach linked to Iran, after 15 million Iranian users were exposed in 2016. A Telegram bug was exploited by Chinese authorities in 2019 during the Hong Kong protests. Then there was the deep-fake bot on Telegram that has been allowed to create forged nudes of women from regular pictures. Most recently, its GPS-enabled feature allowing you to find others near you has created obvious problems for privacy. 

I reached out to Telegram to find out whether there were any major security plans in the works for the app, and what its security priorities were after this latest user surge. I'll update this story when I hear back.

Angela Lang/CNET

• Data linked to you: Too much to list (see below)
• Free; business versions available for free, funded by Facebook
• Not open-source, except for encryption
• Encryption: Signal Protocol 

Let's be clear: There's a difference between security and privacy. Security is about safeguarding your data against unauthorized access, and privacy is about safeguarding your identity regardless of who has access to that data. 

On the security front, WhatsApp's encryption is the same as Signal's, and that encryption is secure. But that encryption protocol is one of the few open-source parts of WhatsApp, so we're being asked to trust WhatsApp more than we are Signal. WhatsApp's actual app and other infrastructure have also faced hacks, just as Telegram has. 

Jeff Bezos' phone was famously hacked in January of 2020 through a WhatsApp video message. In December of the same year, Texas' attorney general alleged -- though has not proven -- that Facebook and Google struck a back-room deal to reveal WhatsApp message content. A spyware vendor targeted a WhatsApp vulnerability with its software to hack 1,400 devices, resulting in a lawsuit from Facebook. WhatsApp's unencrypted cloud-based backup feature has long been considered a security risk by privacy experts and was one way the FBI got evidence on notorious political fixer Paul Manafort. To top it off, WhatsApp has also become known as a haven for scam artists and malware purveyors over the years (just as Telegram has attracted its own share of platform abuse, detailed above). 

Despite the hacks, it's not the security aspect that concerns me about WhatsApp as much as the privacy. I'm not eager for Facebook to have yet another piece of software installed on my phone from which it can cull still more behavioral data via an easy-to-use app with a pretty interface and more security than your regular messenger. 

When WhatsApp says it can't view the content of the encrypted messages you send to another WhatsApp user, what is doesn't say is that there's a laundry list of other data that it collects that could be linked to your identity: Your unique device ID, usage and advertising data, purchase history and financial information, physical location, phone number, your contact information and that of your list of contacts, what products you've interacted with, how often you use the app, and how it performs when you do. The list goes on. This is way more than Signal or Telegram. 

When I asked the company why users should settle for less data privacy, a WhatsApp spokesperson pointed out that it limits what it does with this user data, and that the data collection only applies to some users. For instance, financial transaction data collection would be relevant only to those WhatsApp users in Brazil, where the service is available. 

"We do not share your contacts with Facebook, and we cannot see your shared location," the WhatsApp spokesperson told CNET. 

"While most people use WhatsApp just to chat with friends and family, we've also begun to offer the ability for people to chat with businesses to get help or make a purchase, with health authorities to get information about COVID, with domestic violence support agencies, and with fact checkers to provide people with the ability to get accurate information," the spokesperson said. "As we've expanded our services, we continue to protect people's messages and limit the information we collect." 

Is WhatsApp more convenient than Signal and Telegram? Yes. Is it prettier? Sure. Is it just as secure? We won't know unless we see more of its source code. But is it more private? Not when it comes to how much data it collects comparatively. For real privacy, I'm sticking with Signal and I recommend you do the same. 

---

Source

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Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram: Here's which secure messaging app you should use

Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram: Here's which secure messaging app you should use

If your choice of encrypted messaging app is a toss-up between Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp, do not waste your time with anything but Signal. This isn't about which one has cuter features, more bells and whistles or is the most convenient to use: It's purely about privacy. And if privacy's what you're after, nothing beats Signal.

You probably already know what happened. In a tweet heard 'round the world last January, tech mogul Elon Musk continued his feud with Facebook by advocating people drop its WhatsApp messenger and use Signal instead. Twitter's then-CEO Jack Dorsey retweeted Musk's call. Around the same time, right-wing social network Parler went dark following the Capitol attacks, while political boycotters fled Facebook and Twitter. It was the perfect storm -- the number of new users flocking to Signal and Telegram surged by tens of millions. 

Read more: Everything to know about Signal

The jolt also reignited security and privacy scrutiny over messaging apps more widely. Among the top players currently dominating download numbers, there are some commonalities. All are mobile apps available in the Google Play store and App Store that support cross-platform messaging, have group chat features, offer multifactor authentication and can be used to share files and multimedia. They all also provide encryption for texting, voice and video calls.

Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp use end-to-end encryption in some portion of their app, meaning that if an outside party intercepts your texts, they should be scrambled and unreadable. It also means that the exact content of your messages supposedly can't be viewed by employees of those companies when you are communicating with another private user. This prevents law enforcement, your mobile carrier and other snooping entities from being able to read your messages even when they intercept them (which happens more often than you might think). 

The privacy and security differences between Signal, Telegram and WhatsApp couldn't be bigger, though. Here's what you need to know about each of them. 

Getty/SOPA Images

• Does not collect data, only your phone number
• Free, no ads, funded by nonprofit Signal Foundation 
• Fully open-source
• Encryption: Signal Protocol

Signal is a typical one-tap install app that can be found in your normal marketplaces like Google Play and Apple's App Store and works just like the usual text-messaging app. It's an open-source development provided free of charge by the nonprofit Signal Foundation and has been famously used for years by high-profile privacy icons like Edward Snowden.

Signal's main function is that it can send -- to either an individual or a group -- fully encrypted text, video, audio and picture messages, after verifying your phone number and letting you independently verify other Signal users' identity. For a deeper dive into the potential pitfalls and limitations of encrypted messaging apps, CNET's Laura Hautala's explainer is a life-saver. 

When it comes to privacy, it's hard to beat Signal's offer. It doesn't store your user data. And beyond its encryption prowess, it gives you extended, onscreen privacy options, including app-specific locks, blank notification pop-ups, face-blurring antisurveillance tools and disappearing messages. 

Occasional bugs have proven that the tech is far from bulletproof, of course, but the overall arc of Signal's reputation and results have kept it at the top of every privacy-savvy person's list of identity protection tools. The Guardian, The Washington Post, The New York Times (which also recommends WhatsApp) and The Wall Street Journal all recommend using Signal to contact their reporters safely. 

For years, the core privacy challenge for Signal lay not in its technology but in its wider adoption. Sending an encrypted Signal message is great, but if your recipient isn't using Signal, then your privacy may be nil. Think of it like the herd immunity created by vaccines, but for your messaging privacy. 

Now that Musk's and Dorsey's endorsements have sent a surge of users to get a privacy booster shot, however, that challenge may be a thing of the past. 

Getty/NurPhoto

• Data linked to you: Name, phone number, contacts, user ID
• Free, forthcoming Ad Platform and premium features, funded mainly by founder
• Only partially open-source
• Encryption: MTProto

Telegram falls somewhere in the middle of the privacy scale, and it stands apart from other messenger apps because of its efforts to create a social network-style environment. While it doesn't collect as much data as WhatsApp, it also doesn't offer encrypted group calls like WhatsApp, nor as much user data privacy and company transparency as Signal. Data collected by Telegram that could be linked to you includes your name, phone number, contact list and user ID. 

Telegram also collects your IP address, something else Signal doesn't do. And unlike Signal and WhatsApp, Telegram's one-to-one messages aren't encrypted by default. Rather, you have to turn them on in the app's settings. Telegram group messages also aren't encrypted. Researchers found that while some of Telegram's MTProto encryption scheme was open-source, some portions were not, so it's not completely clear what happens to your texts once they're in Telegram's servers. 

Telegram has seen several breaches. Some 42 million Telegram user IDs and phone numbers were exposed in March of 2020, thought to be the work of Iranian government officials. It would be the second massive breach linked to Iran, after 15 million Iranian users were exposed in 2016. A Telegram bug was exploited by Chinese authorities in 2019 during the Hong Kong protests. Then there was the deep-fake bot on Telegram that has been allowed to create forged nudes of women from regular pictures. Most recently, its GPS-enabled feature allowing you to find others near you has created obvious problems for privacy. 

I reached out to Telegram to find out whether there were any major security plans in the works for the app, and what its security priorities were after this latest user surge. I'll update this story when I hear back.

Angela Lang/CNET

• Data linked to you: Too much to list (see below)
• Free; business versions available for free, funded by Facebook
• Not open-source, except for encryption
• Encryption: Signal Protocol 

Let's be clear: There's a difference between security and privacy. Security is about safeguarding your data against unauthorized access, and privacy is about safeguarding your identity regardless of who has access to that data. 

On the security front, WhatsApp's encryption is the same as Signal's, and that encryption is secure. But that encryption protocol is one of the few open-source parts of WhatsApp, so we're being asked to trust WhatsApp more than we are Signal. WhatsApp's actual app and other infrastructure have also faced hacks, just as Telegram has. 

Jeff Bezos' phone was famously hacked in January of 2020 through a WhatsApp video message. In December of the same year, Texas' attorney general alleged -- though has not proven -- that Facebook and Google struck a back-room deal to reveal WhatsApp message content. A spyware vendor targeted a WhatsApp vulnerability with its software to hack 1,400 devices, resulting in a lawsuit from Facebook. WhatsApp's unencrypted cloud-based backup feature has long been considered a security risk by privacy experts and was one way the FBI got evidence on notorious political fixer Paul Manafort. To top it off, WhatsApp has also become known as a haven for scam artists and malware purveyors over the years (just as Telegram has attracted its own share of platform abuse, detailed above). 

Despite the hacks, it's not the security aspect that concerns me about WhatsApp as much as the privacy. I'm not eager for Facebook to have yet another piece of software installed on my phone from which it can cull still more behavioral data via an easy-to-use app with a pretty interface and more security than your regular messenger. 

When WhatsApp says it can't view the content of the encrypted messages you send to another WhatsApp user, what is doesn't say is that there's a laundry list of other data that it collects that could be linked to your identity: Your unique device ID, usage and advertising data, purchase history and financial information, physical location, phone number, your contact information and that of your list of contacts, what products you've interacted with, how often you use the app, and how it performs when you do. The list goes on. This is way more than Signal or Telegram. 

When I asked the company why users should settle for less data privacy, a WhatsApp spokesperson pointed out that it limits what it does with this user data, and that the data collection only applies to some users. For instance, financial transaction data collection would be relevant only to those WhatsApp users in Brazil, where the service is available. 

"We do not share your contacts with Facebook, and we cannot see your shared location," the WhatsApp spokesperson told CNET. 

"While most people use WhatsApp just to chat with friends and family, we've also begun to offer the ability for people to chat with businesses to get help or make a purchase, with health authorities to get information about COVID, with domestic violence support agencies, and with fact checkers to provide people with the ability to get accurate information," the spokesperson said. "As we've expanded our services, we continue to protect people's messages and limit the information we collect." 

Is WhatsApp more convenient than Signal and Telegram? Yes. Is it prettier? Sure. Is it just as secure? We won't know unless we see more of its source code. But is it more private? Not when it comes to how much data it collects comparatively. For real privacy, I'm sticking with Signal and I recommend you do the same. 

---

Source

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Best Mental Health Apps for 2022

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Best Mental Health Apps for 2022

Therapy can be a daunting step to take, but it is important for us to treat our mental health appropriately, so we can lead better lives. There are a number of mental health apps that can go a long way in helping you relieve stress, bring down your anxiety or even help you take the first steps in going to therapy and talking to someone. Research shows that mental health apps are also a great way to improve your well-being and keep tabs on your wellness journey.

There's a lot to love about mental health apps -- the variety, the affordability and the features. They also bring mental health resources to people who otherwise couldn't get help due to finances, disabilities or location. But they're not all created equal. Not all mental health apps are backed by research or clinical insights. With between 10,000 to 20,000 wellness apps out there, it can be difficult to find the best option for you. We've pulled together a curated list of our top choices to make the process easier.

Read more: Best Online Therapy Services

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

Talkspace takes our top spot for the best therapy app because of its 24/7 access to medical professionals. It's an affordable online therapy option that gives you more than just helpful guides and videos to watch. You have access to a licensed therapist wherever and whenever you need them. Talkspace is a great option for someone who is not comfortable going into an office or would rather have therapy appointments online. 

A 2020 study found that messaging a therapist through Talkspace reduced feelings of anxiety and depression. A different study said that using Talkspace's voice, video and text features also reduced symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Note that the researchers of the studies had connections to Talkspace.

Within the app, you have access to video, text and audio chat to communicate with your therapist. However, users note there is a 5-minute cap on audio messages. 

Talkspace is significantly more expensive than other apps on the list. However, if you're looking for an app that allows you to talk to a therapist directly, it may be worth the price. 

Price: Plans start at $65/week. 

Talkspace best features:

• Talkspace offers therapy with a mental health professional. Not all mental health apps offer this feature.
• You can change therapists. 
• Access to treatment and Talkspace features 24/7. 

Things to consider:

• Since it offers therapy, Talkspace is more expensive than other apps. Which may put it out of reach for some.
• You can use insurance to pay for Talkspace, but some users have noted customer service wait times and other insurance troubles. 

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

Calm is one of the most well-known mental health apps in the wellness space, with over 100 million downloads. We consider Calm one of the best meditation apps because of its comprehensive offerings, including breathing techniques and calming exercises. 

The Calm app is pretty easy to navigate and organized well. When you open the app, you are prompted to take a few deep breaths. Then you select what your main goals are so that your recommendations are tailored to your needs. You also can track statistics within the app, such as how long you have been using the app or how many sessions you've completed. 

The free version of Calm is limited, but there is a 7-day trial that helps you decide if it's right for you. After the trial, you have to pay the premium to access the 100 guided meditations, sleep library and masterclasses, which is $14.99/month or $69.99/year. If you are ready to commit to Calm, it's good to go with the full-year option since it comes out to just under $6/month instead of the full $15. Or you can always stay with the limited free version.

Price: $14.99/month or $69.99/year

Calm best features:

• Calm is simple to use and the exercises are easy to follow. It's a great mental health app for beginners. 
• Features of Calm include breathing exercises, sleep programs, relaxation and mindfulness techniques. 
• You have access to sleep stories narrated by celebrities like Harry Styles or Laura Dern.

Things to consider: 

• Calm offers a free version of the app, however, it is limited. You have to pay to access the full features. 
• You do have to enter payment upfront when you sign up, meaning you have to remember to cancel if you decide it's not for you.
• Reviews say that the app has troubles and customer service can be difficult to work with. 

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

The Moodfit app has a lot to offer, and you can choose how to use the app. You can track sleep, nutrition, exercise and more during your wellness journey. Moodfit uses tools and sessions that help you assess your feelings, recognize negative thinking and change it. 

The Moodfit app has pretty standard navigation. The "notices" tab at the bottom is what I would consider the educational section. There is a lot of good information available, like how your thoughts influence your behavior and feelings, but you will have to take the time to actually read it. Other apps have a more interactive experience with imagery, videos and readouts. 

Where I think where Moodfit really shines is its analytics. With the easy-to-interpret charts, you can spot patterns in your mood and your activities. You also can track your mood down to the hour -- analytic views available are monthly, weekly, daily and hourly. Many apps do have analytics, but Moodfit puts a lot of intention behind helping you find patterns in your behavior and moods.

Price: $8.99/month

Moodfit best features:

• With Moodfit, you can adapt what the app offers based on your goals. Daily reminders and exercises will keep you on track.
• Moodfit has some of the best analytics available in the mental health app game.

Things to consider:

• Moodfit does not offer communication with a therapist.
• The basic version of Moodfit does not include all that the app has to offer. The premium version is $8.99/month, which is a few dollars cheaper than the average cost of the best mental health apps without therapist access. 

Moodfit's home page features your progress and goals. 

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

Sanvello is the best mental health app for stress relief thanks to its full meditation library, guided journeys, health tracking and cognitive behavioral therapy tools. I was pleasantly surprised when using Sanvello. For me, it was a lesser-known option on the list, and it did not disappoint. You can choose what goals you want to target -- reduce anxiety, feel happier, build confidence, etc., and you can select as many goals as you want.

One of my favorite parts of the Sanvello app was how connected it felt when using it. Like other apps, there is an education section. What's different is how it is presented. Sanvello uses text, videos and audio for a multimedia experience that is much easier to follow and digest. This comes down to preference, as some people prefer to read at their cadence. 

The basic version of Sanvello is free. However, there are additional features that the app offers -- like coaching and guided journeys -- that are not available on the free version. There is a premium option of $8.99/month and a premium plus coaching option for $50/month which offers a coach with live connection capabilities. 

Price: $8.99/month or $50/month

Sanvello best features:

• You can choose which areas you want to target, which allows for personalization. 
• Unlike other apps, Sanvello has an option to connect with peers who are going through the same things. 
• Sanvello does have a therapy subscription that connects you with a licensed therapist. 
  

Things to consider: 

• Unfortunately, the therapy option is not available in all states, and if not covered by insurance, it can get expensive. 
• There are limitations to the free app. You have to pay a subscription to access advanced features. 

The Sanvello app allows you to select which goals you want to target. 

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

Happify is a free mental health app that focuses entirely on your mood and helps relieve anxiety. Developed by mental health professionals, Happify's strategies are derived from cognitive behavioral therapy that helps you learn how to recognize and reorient negative thinking. 

Happify had the most thorough questionnaire when signing up. I was asked about relationships, employment and medical conditions to help personalize the service. As the name suggests, Happify focuses on positivity and tries to make your journey fun with engaging games. With the relaxation and mindfulness techniques Happify offers, you can boost your mood and relieve anxiety. 

The app has a different navigation setup than other apps. Instead of having the navigation bar at the bottom, there's a three-bar dropdown you have to tap to bring up the menu at the top left, making it just a little more difficult to find things. 

Price: $14.99/month or $139.99/year. You also can purchase "lifetime access" for $499.99. 

Happify best features:

• Happify was developed by therapists. It's one of the most robust mental health apps on the list. 
• You can personalize how you use the app by selecting what your goals are. 
• When using Happify, you have access to a community forum or you can keep your account private. 
• Happify also has a digital coach feature available. 
  

Things to consider:

• The free features available are limited. To access the digital coach and advanced features, you have to pay for a subscription. 
  

Various tracks are available from Happify.

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

MindShift is a free mental health app specifically designed to target anxiety. Categories within the app are broken down into general worry, social anxiety, perfectionism, panic and phobias. This allows the user to personalize which type of anxiety they want to work through.

As the name suggests, MindShift targets your mindset, meaning that it helps you identify what is making you anxious and helps you redirect your thinking to positivity. When you open the app, you're prompted to rate your daily anxiety score to track over time. The app is pretty easy to use and easier to navigate than other options simply because there is less available. One tool that stood out was the "thought journal" that helps you work through what you're worried about and how to overcome negative thoughts. "Coping cards" are also available to help you ease anxiety in the moment. 

MindShift is much more interactive than other apps, as it relies on you to add anxiety scores and type responses to get the best experience. Other apps are mainly reading-based. If you want the best out of MindShift, you need to interact with the app.

Price: Free

Mindshift best features:

• MindShift is a very interactive app that allows you to choose which type of anxiety you target. 
• It's a free app that used psychotherapy techniques. 

Things to consider:

• Because it's free, you have a limited number of entries a day. 
• The app may have technical difficulties. 

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

The unique experiences of people of color are often excluded from traditional mental health resources. The wellness app industry is traditionally not inclusive and mainly focuses on experiences that white people encounter. Only one in three Black Americans get the mental health care they need. That's why Shine is the pick for the best mental health app for people of color. 

It's specially designed to target the needs and struggles of people of color, making mental health resources more accessible and inclusive. Shine offers meditations, self-care courses led by experts and monthly virtual workshops. You are also prompted to add a wellness check-in each day and are greeted with motivational messages. 

Price: $14.99/month

Shine best features:

• The topics and practices offered are focused on BIPOC mental health. This is unique to the mental health app space.
• You have access to a peer community that offers support and empowerment.  
  

Things to consider:

• Shine offers a free app version, though you will not have access to all the features offered. 
• The price is about average when compared to the other options on the list. 

Selection of choices for Shine app. 

Screenshot by Taylor Leamey/CNET

How we chose the best mental health apps

The apps included on the best mental health app list have the best features supported by research. When selecting our picks, we examined each app's user experience, features and pricing. We also read through user reviews to tease out pain points and what people value in mental health apps.

Frequently asked questions

What are mental health apps?

Who doesn't want therapy from the comfort of home? Mental health apps are tools you can use to improve your well-being. While not all offer online therapy, they're simple to use and make managing your mental health easy. Each app will vary in what it targets. For example, Calm specializes in relaxation and breathing. Moodfit focuses on tracking your mood and finding patterns. 

Mental health apps are not intended to diagnose conditions or be a replacement for therapy. Instead, they are a great tool to use for continued support daily. They offer encouragement, education and helpful activities you can use to improve several areas of your mental health.   

Read more: Tips to Find the Right Therapist For You

Are mental health apps effective?

Experts are split on the effectiveness of mental health apps. Some studies have not found "convincing evidence" that apps greatly improve outcomes related to disorders like anxiety, depression or drinking. However, other research has suggested that mental health apps have potential in managing and improving symptoms of select disorders. 

The research on the effectiveness of long-term treatment with apps is young. Most experts agree that they are a great tool to support your mental health, especially when you use them in addition to other treatment options. They are not intended to diagnose conditions and should be viewed primarily as a complement to traditional treatment options.

What are the benefits of mental health apps?

Mental health apps bring resources to those who otherwise may not have had access to them, whether because of financial standing or regional location. And while they are not a true replacement for therapy, mental health apps are a great way to self-regulate and be mindful of how you're feeling.

• Convenience: You can track your mood, talk to a counselor or read about mental health topics from anywhere. 
• Price: Mental health apps are significantly more affordable than traditional therapy. Many are available for under $20/month.
• Consistency: You want to be as consistent as possible during your wellness journey. With push notifications and props to check in, mental health apps ensure that you are being mindful of patterns in your behaviors or moods and how to meet your goals. 
• 24/7 access: With a mental health app, you can access resources whenever you need them. While some of the counselors may not reply immediately, you have access to the app's other features 24/7. 
• They can help: Wellness apps can help you achieve your goals, whatever they are. For example, they can help you recognize patterns in your mood or improve your coping skills. 

Will mental health apps be the end of therapy?

Mental health apps are great tools that supplement your experience. However, it's unlikely they would ever replace traditional therapy, even the options that offer virtual therapy. Mental health apps have limitations in crises, and there are questions about effectiveness when used alone. Mental health apps aren't the best option for everyone. While the apps are typically user-friendly, some people still prefer to meet in person and have their therapists' undivided attention. It's all a matter of preference.

Read more: What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? 

Do mental health apps share your data?

With mental health apps, you can't assume that everything is protected under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Mental health apps fall in a gray area. HIPAA only protects information collected by "covered entities," including healthcare providers and insurance companies. Many of the best mental health apps on the market operate without connection to covered entities, meaning your information isn't completely private. 

HIPAA applies to conversations with your therapist on an app. So you don't need to worry about what you disclose in those sessions. However, the apps' additional features -- guided meditations, CBT exercises and mood logs -- are not always kept confidential. Neither is the fact that you use a mental health app. The data you give the apps outside of therapy sessions can be sold for targeted advertising. And it's not just Facebook; your information can be shared with public health and academics for research.

Privacy will vary by platform. Make sure you read the privacy policy of each app to fully understand your protection.

Should you use a mental health app?

For many people, apps are an important tool to guide their wellness journey. While they are not a replacement for therapy, mental health apps are a great way to check in on yourself. My advice is that mental health apps are what you put into them. Many of the free ones offer helpful, educational content. But you need to take the time to read it. Others allow you to work through stressors with open-ended answer boxes. But you have to interact with the app to truly benefit from it. 

A wellness app won't give the client's relationship with a counselor that traditional talk therapy offers. And for some, that's not something they are willing to give up. But if therapy is currently out of your reach, especially due to cost, then mental health apps may be a good option. You won't get the highly personalized experience you could get with another person, but you can still learn healthy habits and skills.

The information contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or other qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or health objectives.

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TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop

TikTok Parents Are Taking Advantage of Their Kids. It Needs to Stop

Rachel Barkman's son started accurately identifying different species of mushroom at the age of 2. Together they'd go out into the mossy woods near her home in Vancouver and forage. When it came to occasionally sharing in her TikTok videos her son's enthusiasm and skill for picking mushrooms, she didn't think twice about it -- they captured a few cute moments, and many of her 350,000-plus followers seemed to like it.

That was until last winter, when a female stranger approached them in the forest, bent down and addressed her son, then 3, by name and asked if he could show her some mushrooms. 

"I immediately went cold at the realization that I had equipped complete strangers with knowledge of my son that puts him at risk," Barkman said in an interview this past June. 

This incident, combined with research into the dangers of sharing too much, made her reevaluate her son's presence online. Starting at the beginning of this year, she vowed not to feature his face in future content. 

"My decision was fueled by a desire to protect my son, but also to protect and respect his identity and privacy, because he has a right to choose the way he is shown to the world," she said.

These kinds of dangers have cropped up alongside the rise in child influencers, such as 10-year-old Ryan Kaji of Ryan's World, who has almost 33 million subscribers, with various estimates putting his net worth in the multiple tens of millions of dollars. Increasingly, brands are looking to use smaller, more niche, micro- and nano-influencers, developing popular accounts on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube to reach their audiences. And amid this influencer gold rush there's a strong incentive for parents, many of whom are sharing photos and videos of their kids online anyway, to get in on the action. 

The increase in the number of parents who manage accounts for their kids -- child influencers' parents are often referred to as "sharents" -- opens the door to exploitation or other dangers. With almost no industry guardrails in place, these parents find themselves in an unregulated wild west. They're the only arbiters of how much exposure their children get, how much work their kids do, and what happens to money earned through any content they feature in.

"Once public engagement happens, it is very hard, if not impossible, to really put meaningful boundaries around it."

Leah Plunkett, author, Sharenthood

Instagram didn't respond to multiple requests for comment about whether it takes any steps to safeguard child influencers. A representative for TikTok said the company has a zero-tolerance approach to sexual exploitation and pointed to policies to protect accounts of users under the age of 16. But these policies don't apply to parents posting with or on behalf of their children. YouTube didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

"When parents share about their children online, they act as both the gatekeeper -- the one tasked with protecting a child's personal information -- and as the gate opener," said Stacey Steinberg, a professor of law at the University of Florida and author of the book Growing Up Shared. As the gate opener, "they benefit, gaining both social and possibly financial capital by their online disclosures."

The reality is that some parents neglect the gatekeeping and leave the gate wide open for any internet stranger to walk through unchecked. And walk through they do.

Meet the sharents

Mollie is an aspiring dancer and model with an Instagram following of 122,000 people. Her age is ambiguous but she could be anywhere from 11-13, meaning it's unlikely she's old enough to meet the social media platform's minimum age requirement. Her account is managed by her father, Chris, whose own account is linked in her bio, bringing things in line with Instagram's policy. (Chris didn't respond to a request for comment.)

You don't have to travel far on Instagram to discover accounts such as Mollie's, where grown men openly leer at preteen girls. Public-facing, parent-run accounts dedicated to dancers and gymnasts -- who are under the age of 13 and too young to have accounts of their own -- number in the thousands. (To protect privacy, we've chosen not to identify Mollie, which isn't her real name, or any other minors who haven't already appeared in the media.)

Parents use these accounts, which can have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of followers, to raise their daughters' profiles by posting photos of them posing and demonstrating their flexibility in bikinis and leotards. The comment sections are often flooded with sexualized remarks. A single, ugly word appeared under one group shot of several young girls in bikinis: "orgy."

Some parents try to contain the damage by limiting comments on posts that attract too much attention. The parent running one dancer account took a break from regular scheduling to post a pastel-hued graphic reminding other parents to review their followers regularly. "After seeing multiple stories and posts from dance photographers we admire about cleaning up followers, I decided to spend time cleaning," read the caption. "I was shocked at how many creeps got through as followers."

But "cleaning up" means engaging in a never-ending game of whack-a-mole to keep unwanted followers at bay, and it ignores the fact that you don't need to be following a public account to view the posts. Photos of children are regularly reposted on fan or aggregator accounts, over which parents have no control, and they can also be served up through hashtags or through Instagram's discovery algorithms.

The simple truth is that publicly posted content is anyone's for the taking. "Once public engagement happens, it is very hard, if not impossible, to really put meaningful boundaries around it," said Leah Plunkett, author of the book Sharenthood and a member of the faculty at Harvard Law School.

This concern is at the heart of the current drama concerning the TikTok account @wren.eleanor. Wren is an adorable blonde 3-year-old girl, and the account, which has 17.3 million followers, is managed by her mother, Jacquelyn, who posts videos almost exclusively of her child. 

"As kids get older, they naturally want to define themselves on their own terms, and if parents have overshared about them in public spaces, that can be difficult."

Stacey Steinberg, author, Growing Up Shared

Concerned onlookers have pointed Jacquelyn toward comments that appear to be predatory, and have warned her that videos in which Wren is in a bathing suit, pretending to insert a tampon, or eating various foodstuffs have more watches, likes and saves than other content. They claim her reluctance to stop posting in spite of their warnings demonstrates she's prioritizing the income from her account over Wren's safety. Jacquelyn didn't respond to several requests for comment.

Last year, the FBI ran a campaign in which it estimated that there were 500,000 predators online every day -- and that's just in the US. Right now, across social platforms, we're seeing the growth of digital marketplaces that hinge on child exploitation, said Plunkett. She doesn't want to tell other parents what to do, she added, but she wants them to be aware that there's "a very real, very pressing threat that even innocent content that they put up about their children is very likely to be repurposed and find its way into those marketplaces."

Naivete vs. exploitation

When parent influencers started out in the world of blogging over a decade ago, the industry wasn't exploitative in the same way it is today, said Crystal Abidin, an academic from Curtin University who specializes in internet cultures. When you trace the child influencer industry back to its roots, what you find is parents, usually mothers, reaching out to one another to connect. "It first came from a place of care among these parent influencers," she said.

Over time, the industry shifted, centering on children more and more as advertising dollars flowed in and new marketplaces formed. 

Education about the risks hasn't caught up, which is why people like Sarah Adams, a Vancouver mom who runs the TikTok account @mom.uncharted, have taken it upon themselves to raise the flag on those risks. "My ultimate goal is just have parents pause and reflect on the state of sharenting right now," she said. 

But as Mom Uncharted, Adams is also part of a wider unofficial and informal watchdog group of internet moms and child safety experts shedding light on the often disturbing way in which some parents are, sometimes knowingly, exploiting their children online.

The troubling behavior uncovered by Adams and others suggests there's more than naivete at play -- specifically when parents sign up for and advertise services that let people buy "exclusive" or "VIP" access to content featuring their children.

Some parent-run social media accounts that Adams has found linked out to a site called SelectSets, which lets the parents sell photo sets of their children. One account offered sets with titles such as "2 little princesses." SelectSets has described the service as "a classy and professional" option for influencers to monetize content, allowing them to "avoid the stigma often associated with other platforms."

Over the last few weeks, SelectSets has gone offline and no owner could be traced for comment.

In addition to selling photos, many parent-run dancer accounts, Mollie's included, allow strangers to send the dancers swimwear and underwear from the dancers' Amazon wish lists, or money to "sponsor" them to "realize their dream" or support them on their "journeys."

While there's nothing technically illegal about anything these parents are doing, they're placing their children in a gray area that's not explicitly sexual but that many people would consider to be sexualized. The business model of using an Amazon wish list is one commonly embraced by online sugar babies who accept money and gifts from older men.

"Our Conditions of Use and Sale make clear that users of Amazon Services must be 18 or older or accompanied by a parent or guardian," said an Amazon spokesperson in a statement. "In rare cases where we are made aware that an account has been opened by a minor without permission, we close the account."

Adams says it's unlikely to be other 11-year-olds sending their pocket money to these girls so they attend their next bikini modeling shoot. "Who the fuck do you think is tipping these kids?" she said. "It's predators who are liking the way you exploit your child and giving them all the content they need."

Turning points

Plunkett distinguishes between parents who are casually sharing content that features their kids and parents who are sharing for profit, an activity she describes as "commercial sharenting." 

"You are taking your child, or in some cases, your broader family's private or intimate moments, and sharing them digitally, in the hope of having some kind of current or future financial benefit," she said.

No matter the parent's hopes or intentions, any time children appear in public-facing social media content, that content has the potential to go viral, and when it does, parents have a choice to either lean in and monetize it or try to rein it in.

During Abidin's research -- in which she follows the changing activities of the same influencers over time -- she's found that many influencer parents reach a turning point. It can be triggered by something as simple as other children at school being aware of their child's celebrity or their child not enjoying it anymore, or as serious as being involved in a car chase while trying to escape fans (an occurrence recounted to Abidin by one of her research subjects). 

"Frankly, this is all just a large social experiment."

Sarah Adams, who runs the TikTok account @mom.uncharted

One influencer, Katy Rose Pritchard, who has almost 92,000 Instagram followers, decided to stop showing her children's faces on social media this year after she discovered they were being used to create role-playing accounts. People had taken photos of her children that she'd posted and used them to create fictional profiles of children for personal gratification, which she said in a post made her feel "violated."

All these examples highlight the different kinds of threats sharents are exposing their children to. Plunkett describes three "buckets" of risk tied to publicly sharing content online. The first and perhaps most obvious are risks involving criminal and/or dangerous behavior, posing a direct threat to the child. 

The second are indirect risks, where content posted featuring children can be taken, reused, analyzed or repurposed by people with nefarious motives. Consequences include anything from bullying to harming future job prospects to millions of people having access to children's medical information -- a common trope on YouTube is a video with a melodramatic title and thumbnail involving a child's trip to the hospital, in which influencer parents with sick kids will document their health journeys in blow-by-blow detail.

The third set of risks are probably the least talked about, but they involve potential harm to a child's sense of self. If you're a child influencer, how you see yourself as a person and your ability to develop into an adult is "going to be shaped and in some instances impeded by the fact that your parents are creating this public performance persona for you," said Plunkett.

Often children won't be aware of what this public persona looks like to the audience and how it's being interpreted. They may not even be aware it exists. But at some point, as happened with Barkman, the private world in which content is created and the public world in which it's consumed will inevitably collide. At that point, the child will be thrust into the position of confronting the persona that's been created for them.

"As kids get older, they naturally want to define themselves on their own terms, and if parents have overshared about them in public spaces, that can be difficult, as many will already have notions about who that child is or what that child may like," said Steinberg. "These notions, of course, may be incorrect. And some children may value privacy and wish their life stories were theirs -- not their parents -- to tell."

Savannah and Cole LaBrant have documented nearly everything about their children's lives.

Jim Spellman/WireImage

This aspect of having their real-life stories made public is a key factor distinguishing children working in social media from children working in the professional entertainment industry, who usually play fictional roles. Many children who will become teens and adults in the next couple of decades will have to reckon with the fact that their parents put their most vulnerable moments on the internet for the world to see -- their meltdowns, their humiliation, their most personal moments. 

One influencer family, the LaBrants, were forced to issue a public apology in 2019 after they played an April Fools' Day Joke on their 6-year-old daughter Everleigh. The family pretended they were giving her dog away, eliciting tears throughout the video. As a result, many viewers felt that her parents, Sav and Cole, had inflicted unnecessary distress on her.

In the past few months, parents who film their children during meltdowns to demonstrate how to calm them down have found themselves the subject of ire on parenting Subreddits. Their critics argue that it's unfair to post content of children when they're at their most vulnerable, as it shows a lack of respect for a child's right to privacy.

Privacy-centric parenting

Even the staunchest advocates of child privacy know and understand the parental instinct of wanting to share their children's cuteness and talent with the world. "Our kids are the things usually we're the most proud of, the most excited about," said Adams. "It is normal to want to show them off and be proud of them."

When Adams started her account two years ago, she said her views were seen as more polarizing. But increasingly people seem to relate and share her concerns. Most of these are "average parents," naive to the risks they're exposing their kids to, but some are "commercial sharents" too.

Even though they don't always see eye to eye, the private conversations she's had with parents of children (she doesn't publicly call out anyone) with massive social media presences have been civil and productive. "I hope it opens more parents' eyes to the reality of the situation, because frankly this is all just a large social experiment," she said. "And it's being done on our kids. And that just doesn't seem like a good idea."

For Barkman, it's been "surprisingly easy, and hugely beneficial" to stop sharing content about her son. She's more present, and focuses only on capturing memories she wants to keep for herself.

"When motherhood is all consuming, it sometimes feels like that's all you have to offer, so I completely understand how we have slid into oversharing our children," she said. "It's a huge chunk of our identity and our hearts."

But Barkman recognizes the reality of the situation, which is that she doesn't know who's viewing her content and that she can't rely on tech platforms to protect her son. "We are raising a generation of children who have their entire lives broadcast online, and the newness of social media means we don't have much data on the impacts of that reality on children," she said. "I feel better acting with caution and letting my son have his privacy so that he can decide how he wants to be perceived by the world when he's ready and able."

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Need to Take a Screenshot on Windows 11? Here's How

Need to Take a Screenshot on Windows 11? Here's How

Screenshots are used for a variety of reasons. Maybe you're sending someone a photo of your screen over Slack to diagnose a problem, or you just need to take a quick snippet of an important document to save for later. Regardless of the reason, there are multiple ways to take a screenshot using a Windows 11 computer.

Whether you want to take a full-screen grab, you only want to capture part of the screen or you'd prefer to use a keyboard shortcut or application, the process is simple. Here are all the ways to take a screenshot on Windows 11.

Don't have Windows 11 yet? Check out these two important things you need to do before you can download Windows 11. And if you're unsure about updating, read more about the major differences between Windows 11 and Windows 10.

1. Take a screenshot of the entire screen

The easiest way to take a screenshot of your entire desktop is with the PrtSc key at the top of your keyboard. After tapping on the PrtSc key, the screenshot will be saved to your clipboard, although you won't receive any indication the screenshot has successfully been taken. To view the full-screen screenshot, use Ctrl-V to paste it into an application like Paint or Microsoft Word, or even into the body of an email.

2. Take a screenshot of the entire screen and save it to your computer

Similar to the first option, hitting the Windows-PrtSc keys will take a screenshot of your entire desktop, but it'll also save the screenshot to a folder on your computer. If you hit the keys correctly, your whole screen will flash, indicating the screenshot has been taken and saved. You can find all of your full-screen screenshots in Pictures > Screenshots.

You can take four types of screenshots: rectangular, freeform, window and full-screen.

CNET

3. Take a screenshot of only part of the screen

Not everyone wants a screenshot of their entire screen, which is why Windows 11 gives you the option to take only a partial screenshot. If you tap on Win + Shift +S, your screen will flash and a small Snipping Tool menu will appear at the top of the screen, allowing you to do the following (from left to right):

• Rectangular Snip: Draw a box around what you want to capture
• Freeform Snip: Draw any shape around what you want to capture.
• Window Snip: Choose a window to capture.
• Full-screen Snip: Capture your entire screen (same thing as PrtScr).

Once the screenshot's taken, it'll be saved to your clipboard, as with the PrtScr key option. You can then paste it elsewhere to look at it. However, if you click the Snipping Tool preview that appears at the bottom of the screen, you'll find options to edit the screenshot (crop, rotate and more) and save it to your desktop.

You can delay your screenshot by 3, 5 or 10 seconds.

CNET

4. Use the Snipping Tool to take delayed screenshots

The Snipping Tool comes built into Windows 11, and is the same tool used in the previous section, except with a few tiny additions. To use it, type in Snipping Tool in the Search feature and open the application to take a screenshot.

In Snipping Tool, if you click on New you'll open the mini Snipping Tool menu (like in the section before), where you can then choose between several different snips. However, with this full version of the Snipping Tool, you can choose any of the four snipping options (rectangular, freeform, window and fullscreen) and then choose a delay option. You can choose between a 3-, 5- and 10-second delay. This will give you a bit of time to set up whatever it is you're attempting to screenshot and might make it easier than taking the shot manually.

To take the delayed screenshot, simply hit Win-Shift-S, which will then be copied to your clipboard. You can also click on the screenshot preview that appears to make any edits or save it to your computer as a JPEG, PNG or other.

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