Editor's Note: Product not yet tested. The following description is from the manufacturer.

Nobody wants to have private text messages captured by snoops, but for those in government, law enforcement, and certain professions, protecting texts is particularly important. Protected Mobility's ProtectedSMS ($49.95, direct) uses AES 256-bit encryption that's FIPS 140-2 compliant to protect text messages for individuals or institutions. The product previously supported only BlackBerry devices, but the company has just added support for Android.

Bill Marlow, founder and CEO of Protected Mobility, observes that without secure text messaging "people on the front lines of government and industry couldn't use text messaging without putting themselves or confidential information at risk." Standard text messaging is vulnerable to interception and modification, but in emergency situations with limited capabilities texting may be the only way to communicate. ProtectedSMS allows texting without breach of confidentiality.

This solution doesn't route text messages through a third-party gateway. Rather, it strictly uses client-side software on each phone to encrypt and decrypt texts. As a result it works across all networks and carriers. According to the company, the product's "key management and encryption process enables easy transfer of existing client applications to a secure mobile platform."

Like Send. 2.0 (Free, 4 stars) and Send. Pro ($5 direct, 4 stars), PC-based solutions for secure email, ProtectedSMS does require that both participants in a text conversation have the software installed and running. During installation users can invite specific contacts to download the free 14-day trial of ProtectedSMS. A registration step for each contact establishes the secure connection.

After the connection with a given contact has been configured, using ProtectedSMS is no different from sending a regular text message of up to 500 characters. You can choose a notification ringtone or just let a red indicator on the app's icon serve as notification of a new secure text. Messages are always stored in encrypted form and only decrypted for display, so spyware or police forensics can only capture the encrypted message.

ProtectedSMS is available directly from Protected Mobility for a one-time cost of $49.95. Enterprise licensing is also available.

More Encryption reviews: