> Possibly in 2016.

Or not.

Meanwhile, users should know that there are many encrypted chat programs. Signal for mobile (free and open source and with better implementation of key exchange than WhatsApp). Check out Wire (Swiss, free and open source) as a Skype alternative.

German government just announced to officially surveil WhatsApp. Please give us a secure messenger!!! ;-)

End2end inscription? :P Encryption. And it's already planned.

Perfect secure Messenger with end2end inscription. Why not make 2in1: mail+chat - simple but great idea! User ID is like JID user@pmail.com or user@pm.me :) Would be awesome! Thanks!

I would be interested in an app, which provides secure messaging between smartphone (something like a secure iMessage).

Add a Facebook messenger style chat in which you can save them in your account or copy content of the chat.

PLEASE DO THIS IT WOULD BE A GREAT ADDITION IT'S 2017 ALREADY AND THIS WOLD BE AMAZING TO HAVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why should we be exlcuded from instant chat (texting) just because we don't have gmail or other services that have this feature.

Why should all our friends be able to do instant chat (texting) and not us? I think we should have this feature added.

I'm not sure if it makes sense for protonmail to implement this, given there are many other services targeting encrypted chat.

However, if you do want to implement a chat service, please consider using http://matrix.org/ rather than signal. Signal is great, but does not have federation. So it acts as a walled garden.

If you implement matrix, you can host your own chat servers but also then let users chat to users on other servers.

Matrix also has bridges, which allow you to connect other chat services e.g. IRC.

If you would like to see how matrix works, have a look at https://riot.im/ which implements the matrix protocol.

First of all, I agree that people who don't want the feature should be able to turn it off completely and never see any trace of it. It's too easy for software to become bloated with too many "bells and whistles" and lose focus and elegance that got people to start using it when it was new.

Having said that...

I want chat added as an extension of the webmail service!

Although there are some other "private" chat services, I haven't found any that my other friends accept as readily as ProtonMail. I won't use many of them because they are not actually secure, or are run by for-profit corporations. Basically, there are few that I will use, and they are typically buggy or have immature designs. So my less-computer-literate friends won't use them.

My friends and I are all using ProtonMail and love it, and there are times when we are both online and emailing each other. It's cumbersome to send emails in both directions, and they often cross, so it's very confusing to keep a coherent conversation going. (For example, my friend might write two messages while I'm responding to an older one. Then I don't know if I should continue writing a reply, or read the new messages first. This can make a person crazy.)

In other words, the chat feature would be helpful at times when there is already an active ProtonMail email exchange going. Then it would be easy and smooth to switch over to chat.

Some people commented that they don't want ProtonMail to become another "social platform" or "social network". I don't either(!), but I'd love it if ProtonMail developed into a more capable *communication* platform.

YESSSSS!!!!! Thank you! THANK YOU!

ProtonMail definitely NEEDS a secure chat, similar to how both gmail, yahoo, and other providers have iming/chats in their email, but a more secure version in Proton mail!
An encrypted PROTONchat where both parties would automatically go off the record and possibly even use a shared password they initially (once, not every time) set to chat would be a good idea!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_Swiss

I don't see the need for this. There's signal already

Only ONE word, ekhm, wit for it... ekhmmm... NO!

If we want to improve the privacy of our communications a place to start would be the messaging format that we use for the most of our conversations nowadays (like whatsapp). This kind of communication is today in the hands of big companies because the don't support any communication standard like xmpp. ¿Anyone can imagine that a gmail account couldn't send emails to an outlook or protonmail accounts but only other gmails? This it's just what is happening in messaging alternatives that doesn't let you choose other ones because keep you captive with al yours contacts been only available in there. If email services like openmailbox already do could be used as an xmpp account very time more and more people would have an xmpp account and it would be easier to start using an standard in our more important communication nowadays.

To be honest one of the main reasons for me to switch to protonmail was to actually get rid of the social account stuff build around it. I signed up for a secure and simple, minimalistic email client first and foremost so... if you really have to add this chat (or whatever social environment thingy) pah-leez let there be an option to opt out or completely disable it.

Are you still working on it?
Telegram is already has self-destructible chats, and seems like shares your policy on privacy. Don't you think on cooperation with them?

As others have mentioned, use signal protocol