Naven
Answers
Is it safe to give a messaging app my email address?
It depends entirely on what they do with it. The question to answer before signing up is whether the service sells data, whether it lets other people find you by that address, and whether it has a real deletion process.
An email address is a much weaker identifier than a phone number: it can be abandoned, it is not tied to a SIM or a contract, and you can use a different one for each service. That is why address-based sign-up is generally the safer of the two.
The risk that remains is discoverability. On some platforms, anybody who knows your address can find your profile — worth checking before you use your main one.
Naven uses the address as a login and to reach you. There is no directory, and name search only covers conversations you are already in.