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Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
291–300 of 972 posts
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
That doesn't apply to me or anyone I know. I know a handful on signal and telegram but the vast majority are on WhatsApp with a smaller number on messenger. People can contact me on signal but I mostly use WhatsApp for group chats and I'm not so important that everyone will install a newaapp just to include me in a group chat.
Signal now supports group chats as well, thought it looks like all participants have to be using Signal otherwise it uses regular MMS and the "group" dynamic breaks down.
I know that it supports group chats, but the whole group would have to switch to it. That might happen with one such group in the next few days as we've had a long discussion. 1 member of the 15 in the group has now installed signal. 2 of us were already on signal.
That still leaves 12 more to switch but it could happen.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
That page starts by claiming that Signal doesn't do backups which is false.
That page, is also an article from 2017 :-)
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
By default anyone at telegram can read your messages. By default, nobody at Facebook can read your WhatsApp messages. Telegram is a privacy downgrade here.
Facebook could push an update tomorrow that subtly modifies the RNG in a very difficult to detect way that allows them to easily brute force all messages. No published source code or alternative implementations so it may take months of RE to notice if it is ever noticed at all. If only a single party with no accountability controls your encryption keys with binaries they compiled from code they wrote that no one else…
Or the can partner with Google and Apple and get those backups from them, like the government does.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#295Where 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.
No social media today qualify as “critical social infrastructure."
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
That doesn't apply to me or anyone I know. I know a handful on signal and telegram but the vast majority are on WhatsApp with a smaller number on messenger. People can contact me on signal but I mostly use WhatsApp for group chats and I'm not so important that everyone will install a newaapp just to include me in a group chat.
I used to have the same thinking, lurked on Signal for a while, then suddenly all my contacts started to show up. Even my 14 year old got all her friends on Signal (without my direct influence) because they are very aware of instagram/FB addiction and want to stay away from it.
Impressive. I have a lot more on telegram but have yet to have a group chat on either platform.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is it possible for this answer to be first... Really HN? WhatsApp is critical infrastructure?? Excluding company ownership, what is the crucial difference between all IM listed? There's LITTLE DIFFERENCE, they all serve the same purpose, feature parity is pretty much there. When you add company ownership to the mix, WhatsApp is owned by fucking Facebook. Let that sear in your mind.
>Excluding company ownership, what is the crucial difference between all IM listed? The crucial difference is that in my life everyone is on WhatsApp, and no one is on any of the other IMs. That is the difference. And I don't use the word everyone here lightly, I mean it (99,9%) literally. My family, my parents, my friends, my colleagues, my 91 year old grandmother, my potential clients, my actual clients, the suppor…
This.
There is no way to socially untangle yourself from Whatsapp in the Netherlands, unless one wishes to live as the modern version of a hermit.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Not true at all - you have no ads looking at your screen, neither chatting privately. Group/channel owners may choose to add ads, but you can always run your own client made to ignore them - telegram is open source.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#299Telegram, because it more widespread and because it runs in parallel on multiple devices. That's the major flaw of WhatsApp even if it's dictated by strong encryption etc.
However everybody around me use WhatsApp, including the people using Telegram. I use Telegram with 3 or 4 friends, WhatsApp with everybody else even if I see a constant flow of contacts installing Telegram (the app sends a notification.) The only viable migration path is that enough people start using both until a tipping point when most of their conversations happen on Telegram. Same for any other platform. An abrupt switch is impossible unless WhatsApp start charging money or is banned by law.
Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp
#300What amazes me is how brazen Facebook has gotten with forced data sharing.