Wire, the messaging app backed by Skype's Janus Friis, gets video calls and message encryption
It's been more than 15 months since Wire entered the competitive messaging app fray with the promise to build a Skype for the modern age — a promise given real credence by the backing of Skype cofounder Janus Friis.
Context & Ripple Effects
Wire arrived in late 2014 pitching itself as 'Skype for the modern age,' with credibility anchored in cofounder [[a:|Janus Friis]]'s backing — but for 15 months it lacked two things any Skype heir needs: video calling and real encryption. This update closes both gaps at once, putting Wire into direct feature competition with the consumer messaging giants rather than positioning it as a minimalist alternative.
The timing matters because the encrypted-messaging race was just igniting: within months, WhatsApp would ship free video calling to all users ([[a:877695]]), Signal would beta its own video feature ([[a:916583]]), and Telegram would add end-to-end encrypted voice calls ([[a:917699]]). Wire is moving early in that window, before encryption became table stakes.
First-order effects
- Wire's users get encrypted text and video calling in one app, letting the startup compete head-to-head with WhatsApp and Telegram on features rather than design philosophy alone.
- Janus Friis's investment gets its proof point: the app now substantively delivers on the 'modern Skype' promise that justified his backing.
Second-order effects
- The incumbents respond in kind — WhatsApp rolls out free video calling across iOS, Android, and Windows phones by November 2016, compressing the window in which Wire's feature set is distinctive.
- The privacy pressure reaches Wire's namesake rival: Skype itself partners with Open Whisper Systems in 2018 to test end-to-end encrypted 'Private Conversations' ([[a:925713]]), effectively conceding that the challenger framing Wire popularized had become the standard consumers expect.
Third-order effects
- End-to-end encryption shifts from differentiator to baseline across consumer messaging, forcing apps like Wire to find value elsewhere — which its later $21M Series B raise as an enterprise-focused encrypted messenger ([[a:965268]]) suggests meant pivoting from consumer scale to paid business deployments.
- If the pattern holds, consumer messaging consolidates around a few free giants while independent encrypted apps survive by selling security to enterprises rather than competing for ad-funded user counts.
The trend: Consumer messaging is racing to make end-to-end encryption a default expectation, pushing independent encrypted apps toward enterprise markets where security can be monetized.