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Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#271

Post by mightytightywty »

londons_explore wrote: post #220
pelasaco wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if with Telegram "the privacy, security, and governance story is not great though", why would you migrate from WhatsApp to Telegram in first place? I personally have all 3 (Signal, WhatsApp and Telegram) and use all three with different groups and scenarios. For example: - With my mom and grandmom: WhatsApp - Group of friends from jiu-jitsu: WhatsApp - Work Colleagues and friends working with Network Security: Signal…

It's about time someone made a unified messenger client that combines all these conversations and hides the detail of which service you are using to talk to friends.

It'll take some setting up, but matrix may suit your needs: https://matrix.org/bridges/

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#273

Post by pelasaco »

cookiengineer wrote: post #251
pelasaco wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.co…

I would love to have my own telegram infrastructure. I will check those projects, thank you!

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#275

Post by aden1ne »

timvdalen wrote: post #185
emsy wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not a good comparison. There are many alternatives to WhatsApp and it’s not a „critical“ infrastructure. In contrast, you sometimes can’t choose your ISP and internet is much more critical.

It can be in area's (such as in The Netherlands) where literally _everyone_ is on WhatsApp and it is the default form of personal online communication. Not using WhatsApp means not being able to communicate with a lot of people.

In the Netherlands it's so pervasive, it isn't only the default form a personal online communication anymore. Rather, it is quickly becoming the default form of online customer interaction as well.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#276

Post by kelchqvjpnfasjl »

captainmuon wrote: post #49

Is Matrix a good alternative to Signal? I'm currently using Signal, but I'm not entirely satisfied. My major issues are that I don't like their stance on a couple of issues: third party clients are not allowed, mobile first and desktop is only synced, phone number required, and distribution only over the app stores. Also we frequently get "encryption errors" and everybody ignores them, this is worse than with SSH key…

Signal for Android is also distributed via their website.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#277

Post by tiagod »

beertoagunfight wrote: post #144
signal11 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that normal Telegram chats are not end to end encrypted. You have to start a “secret chat” for that.

Telegram gets a lot of flak for this, but if what they're saying here is true, I believe that it's a pretty sane architecture: https://telegra.ph/Why-Isnt-Telegram-End-to-End-Encrypted-by... Definitely a better alternative to WhatsApp in any case.

Nothing prevents Telegram from not implementing that architecture and reading every single group message and non-secret chat. Telegram is sketchy in many ways, I wouldn't trust that easily.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#278

Post by arrrg »

jcelerier wrote: post #180
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.

> Because as much as I hate that Facebook bought them, they're part of what I would call "critical social infrastructure." ... is it ? I only got whatsapp last year and most of the people I know from real life aren't on it. In a big french city with a 50 thousand-students university.

Obviously this depends on your exact circumstances. You might be whole unaffected or literally everyone you know might use it. Either way, you depend on other people.

This sucks, by the way. No doubt about that. But I doubt that individuals can do anything in that regard.

Probably regulation. Or a benevolent tech company that decides to push some sort of open messenger protocol (with good enough properties) that anyone can join and where anyone can make clients for. You know, kinda like e-mail.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#279

Post by srg0 »

The problem is that at least here in EU lots of social groups are on WhatsApp. So switching away from WhatsApp is not always feasible (unless you're willing to compromise your social life and some business interactions too).

A more practical solution might be not to switch from WhatsApp entirely, but to limit the amount of data it can get from you. Some ideas:

- trimming the contact list to the minimum; move most conctacts from the builtin phone address book (Google Contacts) to another store for contacts, which is not integrated with the system

- getting a separate phone just for WhatsApp; different account, different number, different contact list

- revoke most of the app permissions, use only the most essential features (basically text)

- post new _content_ elsewhere

- FB will probably try to track / intercept links in the app; setting Duck Duck Go as the default browser might help (purge browsing data often)

I'm not sure how far iOS 14 privacy features will go. It's their time to shine. If they do prevent WhatsApp and Facebook apps from doing shady stuff, it might be a time to switch.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#280

Post by philshem »

ninkendo wrote: post #208

Is there any texting app that doesn't require access to your address book on iOS? I simply don't trust a single one of the messaging apps that they won't immediately upload my entire address book to their servers so they can have a more complete social graph. I've tried Telegram at one point but it was a huge pain to use if you didn't let it access your contacts (or maybe it didn't work at all... my memory's fuzzy on…

On iOS you can remove access to the contacts for individual apps. I did so for WhatsApp this morning.

Privacy -> Contacts -> App Name

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/272067/ (scroll down)

--

The real problem is that other people have me as their contacts, and don't mind sharing with FB or whatever other companies.

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