An app for sharing private conversations is exploding after reports of heavy use in Washington

Confide, an app that allows users to send disappearing encrypted messages, grew its user base sevenfold in one week after stories saying that Republicans in Washington, D.C., are using it to share information confidentially, said Confide President Jon Brod.

"Last week our users increased 7 times over the prior week, so just, explosive growth," he said. The spike followed stories from multiple publications, including Axios and the Washington Post noting how the app is taking off among political operatives.

"We have seen accelerating growth since the U.S. election, but this catapults us in a new category," he said. "Every month has been a new record for us across all usage and engagement metrics."

There are many use cases for Confide in the political and corporate world, including reporting human resources issues, making deals, soliciting job references, sharing tips for reporters and leaks, he said.

All information exchanged through the app, as well as data like your GPS coordinates when you send messages, and who you're exchanging messages with, is encrypted. The app does ask users to sign up for an account requiring a username, email address and other information, he said. The fact that you're using Confide is not confidential; who you're talking to and what you're talking about is.

Brod says that encryption "is finally coming to the fore," he said following a U.S. election marked by hacks and leaks of confidential emails.

"The genie is out of the bottle," said Brod. "This is here to say -- iMessage uses it, WhatsApp uses, increasingly everyone will use it."