None declared
Mostly a question of trust: Message Matrix collects data linked to you but declares no tracking. The sensitive items are location and user content. In total the label lists 5 data types; 14% of secure messengers we checked declare tracking.
Message Matrix privacy in one look
- 1Collects nothing
- 2Not linked
- 3Linked
- 4Tracks you
Built only from the developer's App Store label. It describes disclosure, not tested behaviour.
Message Matrix collects 2 data types tied to your identity but declares no tracking.
Did Message Matrix ask for something?
Pick the permission prompt you saw. We compare it with what Message Matrix's developer declared.
Message Matrix lists Location on its label. Choose While Using and turn off Precise Location if the feature works without it.
Message Matrix lists User Content on its label, linked to you. Choose Limited Access and pick only the photos you want to share.
Contacts is not on Message Matrix's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
Message Matrix declares no tracking, so a tracking prompt would contradict its label. Decline it, and consider reporting the mismatch to Apple.
Health & Fitness is not on Message Matrix's label. That can be fine: data used only on your iPhone does not have to be declared. If the data would need to leave the phone for the feature to work, ask why it is missing.
A permission is what the app can reach on your iPhone; the label is what the developer says leaves it. They answer different questions.
What Message Matrix collects, explained
| Data type | What it covers | Where to limit it |
|---|---|---|
| LocationSensitiveNot linked to you | Where your phone is, either precisely (street level) or approximately (city or area). | Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services: choose Never or While Using, and turn off Precise Location if the app does not need it. |
| User ContentSensitiveLinked to you | Messages, photos, videos, audio recordings, documents and support chats you create or upload. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos: choose Limited Access or None; review Microphone and Files access too. |
| IdentifiersLinked to you | An account ID, screen name, customer number or a device-level ID such as the advertising identifier. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking: turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track, or tap Ask App Not to Track when prompted. |
| Usage DataNot linked to you | What you tap, open and view inside the app, plus which ads you have seen. | There is no single iOS switch. Look for an analytics or personalised-ads toggle in the app's own settings. |
| DiagnosticsNot linked to you | Crash logs, launch times, hang rates and energy use. | Settings › Privacy & Security › Analytics & Improvements › Share With App Developers controls what Apple passes on; the app's own crash reporting is separate. |
What Message Matrix's label means for you
Message Matrix's label has 2 types under “Data Linked to You”, 3 types under “Data Not Linked to You”. A data type can appear in more than one section when it is used for different purposes — for example, identifiers used for both analytics and advertising.
Message Matrix declares no tracking, which means the developer says it does not combine your data with other companies' data for advertising or sell it to data brokers. The data linked to you — user content and identifiers — is still tied to your identity, typically through an account, and is covered by the developer's privacy policy and retention rules.
The items that deserve the most attention are location and user content. Location history reveals home, work and routines. Precise location deserves the most scrutiny.
Messengers see who you talk to as well as what you say. Even with end-to-end encrypted content, contact lists and metadata can be collected and linked to you. Check whether contact upload is optional, whether backups are encrypted too, and whether disappearing messages exist.
Among the 172 secure messengers in our snapshot with a label, 14% declare tracking, 54% collect data linked to you and 29% say they collect nothing. Message Matrix lists 5 data types, more than the average of 2.8 for this group.
Business apps often handle other people's data — clients, colleagues and customers — so what they collect can affect more than you.
Settings to check for Message Matrix
- 1
Tracking
Settings › Privacy & Security › Tracking. If “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is off, apps cannot ask, and they are told to treat you as having declined. You can also turn it off for this app alone.
- 2
Location
Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services › Message Matrix. Choose While Using or Never, and switch off Precise Location if a city-level answer is enough.
- 3
Photos
Settings › Privacy & Security › Photos. Limited Access lets you pick exactly which pictures the app can see; Add Photos Only lets it save without reading your library.
- 4
Contacts
Settings › Privacy & Security › Contacts. Limited Access shares only the people you select instead of your whole address book.
- 5
Microphone & camera
Settings › Privacy & Security › Microphone and Camera. The orange and green dots in the status bar show when either is in use.
- 6
Lock the app
On iOS 18 and later, touch and hold the icon and choose Require Face ID. Anyone who picks up your unlocked phone then needs your face, fingerprint or passcode to open it.
Does Message Matrix track you?
There is no “Data Used to Track You” section on Message Matrix's label.
Does Message Matrix track you? Full answer and how to stop it →
Lock Message Matrix behind Face ID
- Find Message Matrix on your Home Screen or in App Library.
- Touch and hold the icon until the quick-actions menu opens.
- Tap Require Face ID (or Require Touch ID / Require Passcode, depending on your iPhone).
- Tap Require Face ID again to confirm. Message Matrix now asks for authentication every time it opens.
The lock is an iPhone feature, so it works whether or not Message Matrix has a passcode of its own. It does not change what the app sends to its developer.
About Message Matrix
| Developer | Message Matrix Ltd. |
| App Store category | Business (also Productivity) |
| Latest version | 4.0.0, released January 2024 |
| First released | December 2015 |
| Requires | iOS 12.0 or later |
| Size | 50 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ |
| Languages | 1 (EN) |
| Bundle ID | com.novastonemedia.novastone |
The current version shipped in January 2024, 2 years before our snapshot. Apps that are not updated may not support newer iOS privacy controls, and an abandoned app will not get security fixes.
What the label cannot tell you
- A label is self-reported. Apple publishes the developer's answers and can reject apps that misrepresent them, but it does not independently verify what Message Matrix sends.
- It does not say where data is stored, how long it is kept, whether it is encrypted, or which companies receive it. The privacy policy covers those points.
- Optional data counts: if a feature lets you add something (a profile photo, a phone number), the type is listed even if you never use the feature.
- Data handled only on your iPhone is not 'collected', so a no-collection label is compatible with an app that reads your files locally.
- Third-party sign-in, payment processors and SDKs are supposed to be included, but a label can lag behind a new version.
The question to ask Message Matrix's developer: Is the message content end-to-end encrypted by default, including backups?
Message Matrix vs similar secure messengers
- Letstalk IM
- Message Matrix (this app)
- Cloaked
- Ginlo Private
- WellSky Secure Messaging
- Qlavis
- MilChat
- Royal Message
Fewer types is not automatically safer: a cloud backup app has to collect your files to work. Compare like with like.
Look up any of our apps in seconds, or put two labels side by side.
Apps similar to Message Matrix
All secure messengers → Who tracks you? A–Z → Apps that collect location → Privacy label decoder →
Your Message Matrix privacy checklist
Done. You have applied every control the label points to.
True or false?
- Right.Not quite.
False: there is no Data Used to Track You section on Message Matrix's label.
- Right.Not quite.
Labels are self-reported by developers. Apple can reject or remove apps that misrepresent practices, but it does not audit each label.
- Right.Not quite.
True: Location appears on its label, in the Not Linked to You section.
- Right.Not quite.
It is collected and sent; the developer says it is de-identified rather than tied to your account or device.
- Right.Not quite.
Apple's rules require apps to work the same whether or not you allow tracking.