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Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#251

Post by cookiengineer »

pelasaco wrote: post #200
cookiengineer wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people that are not aware: There's a Telegram FOSS [1] fork which contains all kinds of fixes; and additionally is Google Services and tracking free, which means it will run on AOSP and LineageOS without any burden of push services. You can verify this yourself with AppWarden [2]. [1] https://github.com/Telegram-FOSS-Team/Telegram-FOSS [2] https://gitlab.com/AuroraOSS/AppWarden

being FOSS just in the client side, IMO changes little in comparsion with WhatsApp.

> being FOSS just in the client side, IMO changes little in comparsion with WhatsApp.

There are efforts implementing mtproto servers that are compatible with the Telegram codebase like telegramd [1] or madelineproto [2] in case you want to host your own server.

But, if decentralization is your main focus (interpreting your statement); you probably want to switch to a Matrix-based client anyways.

[1] https://github.com/nebula-chat/telegramd

[2] https://github.com/danog/MadelineProto

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#252

Post by ignoramous »

FiloSottile wrote: post #232
Lazare wrote: post #56

Telegram is a great IM experience . The client is good, feature set is good, the stickers are amusing (if you're into that kind of thing), the feature set is complete and everything is polished. Telegram is, I think, going to be one of the easier sells if you're trying to convince non-technical users to switch from WhatsApp or FB Messenger. The privacy, security, and governance story is not great though. If you care…

As a reminder, Telegram groups are not encrypted at all, and 1:1 chats are not encrypted by default, so while WhatsApp might see your contacts, Telegram can see most of your messages.

Not just see messages, but show you ads as well: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25520200

Telegram's a down-right bad IM experience compared to WhatsApp despite Facebook's forced integration: You see ads and the chats aren't encrypted.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#254

Post by shiftingleft »

ValentineC wrote: post #206
Lazare wrote: post #56

Telegram is a great IM experience . The client is good, feature set is good, the stickers are amusing (if you're into that kind of thing), the feature set is complete and everything is polished. Telegram is, I think, going to be one of the easier sells if you're trying to convince non-technical users to switch from WhatsApp or FB Messenger. The privacy, security, and governance story is not great though. If you care…

> If you care about such things, I think Signal wins hands down. And the UX is fine, just not quite as good as Telegram in my view. Signal (by design, probably) has no chat sync or backup. That's a dealbreaker in my book. Edit: looks like chat history transfer has been a feature since June 2020: https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/9/21280664/signal-chat-trans...

It does have a backup functionality, which unlike WhatsApp's doesn't store your messages unencrypted. It also doesn't force you to use a specific storage provider. If you want to have it synced, you can point your favorite sync client at it.

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059752-Ba...

Additionally, they've introduced an optional PIN which you can use to recover profile, contacts and settings when switching devices - without the need to setup sync yourself.

https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007059792-Si...

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#255

Post by throwaway2245 »

nindalf wrote: post #178
apexalpha wrote: post #155

Where is the "Don't switch" option? Because as much as I hate that Facebook bought them, they're part of what I would call "critical social infrastructure." Asking to leave WhatsApp is like cancelling your contract with your ISP and going offline just because you don't like the company.

Regardless of your opinion of this comment, it's still worthwhile to have the option of "staying with WhatsApp" in the poll.

The link is titled "Switching from WhatsApp".

If you're not interested in switching, then this thread is not for you. A Hacker News poll is not scientific research.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#257

Post by newscracker »

kome wrote: post #115

I vote for Telegram as well. You can't use Signal without a cellphone... and cellphones are a privacy nightmare. I activated Telegram with a burner phone number, and I don't have to keep the phone on to use Telegram on desktop or online. I never shared any contact with Telegram, and I added everybody manually. You don't have to give your number to be added on telegram, you can use an @handle. A a lot of people among…

Actually, you can do the burner phone thing with Signal too. With Telegram, whoever gets that number later (if you discard it) can possibly also get your account and messages (though you’d get a warning). With Signal, even if someone did that, they wouldn’t get your past conversations and your account would get disabled the moment the other person activates.
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