Data protection for private individuals in Switzerland

Messenger

Element (Matrix) and data protection

Published: 2 November 2026

Element is the best-known app for Matrix, an open standard for encrypted communication. Unlike WhatsApp or Signal, there is no single central provider: your account is held on a Matrix server of your choice – for example the public matrix.org server, your club’s or company’s server, or your own. Matrix is also used by authorities and large organisations; in Switzerland, for example, by Swiss Post.

In brief

  • No phone number required: you get a Matrix address in the form @name:server.
  • End-to-end encrypted by default are direct messages and private rooms. Public rooms are not encrypted.
  • Choose any server or run your own. Servers run by different operators exchange data with each other (“federation”).
  • Open source: the apps, servers and standard are all open. The app is made by Element Creations Ltd in London; the standard is maintained by the non-profit Matrix.org Foundation.

What you should bear in mind

  • More metadata than Signal or Threema: who is in a room, when someone writes something, profile pictures and emoji reactions are not end-to-end encrypted and are stored on all the servers involved.
  • The server matters: whoever runs your server can see your account data and this metadata. Choose an operator you trust.
  • Element stores IP addresses: according to its privacy policy, Element logs IP addresses when the app is accessed and keeps them for up to 180 days.
  • Somewhat more technical: you have to confirm (“verify”) new devices so that they can read older encrypted messages. If you have not set up a backup, you may lose access to old messages when you change device.

How to set up Element in a privacy-friendly way

The labels may differ slightly depending on the app version.

  1. Choose your server deliberately: when registering, you can enter a different server instead of matrix.org.
  2. Set up Secure Backup: Settings → Security & Privacy → Secure Backup (recovery key). Keep the key separate from your device.
  3. Check your devices: Settings → Sessions. Sign out unknown devices and verify your own.
  4. Don’t let others find you by phone number or email: avoid linking your email address or phone number to an identity server.
  5. Turn off peer-to-peer calls: Settings → Voice & Video → turn off “Allow Peer-to-Peer for 1:1 calls”. Otherwise the person you are calling can see your IP address.
  6. Link previews: leave them turned off in encrypted rooms – they are generated via the server.
  7. Don’t share analytics data: you can decline the request to share anonymous usage data.
  8. Create rooms encrypted: encryption is turned on for new private rooms – leave it that way.

Further reading

Sources

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