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Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

news.ycombinator.com

471–480 of 972 posts

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#471
post #88

The problem is not finding a nice alternative. The problem is that everybody's contacts are on Whatsapp. How do you make THEM switch?

You uninstall WhatsApp and tell your closest family and friends that they can only reach you on Signal. Because you are so important to them, they will install Signal as a backup/secondary app. Other people will do the same, and it will snowball into everyone having Signal installed and at some point people will realise that the network effect is gone.

Been there, done that.

I can state that it's a bit unrealistic to expect this kind of outcome.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#472
Couldn't we have an open-messaging standard so that different apps can send messages to each other? Similar to open banking in the UK (law). Of course, the big players won't want that, but the smaller ones could start it.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#473
post #461

I started switching away from Whatsapp about 18 months ago. I decided to go for Telegram (although I use Signal as well). So far, I managed to convert... 17 people. Out of approximately 1200. It is a lost case. WhatsApp is practically everywhere. Damn.

Good on you for trying

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#474
post #168
post #70

I like Threema because it works and the business model simple. Pay a few bucks and get it forever.

The business model is unsustainable and relies on constantly growing the userbase since there is no recurring revenue.

They have Threema Work, which is (in business model) similar to Slack

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#475

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who's never used such a service, help me understand what's so critical about it. Can't people just send SMS? Aren't people on fb anyway, which can be accessed with a container on Firefox? EDIT: got some answers re SMS. Fine, though that doesn't explain why there is so much overlap/redundancy with social media applications. At a glance, it appears I could do the very same things (groups, multimedia) messagi…

WhatsApp allows Group Conversations and Sharing Media (Pictures, Videos, Files, Audio Files, GPS Location, Video Calls). SMS and MMS can not cope with that in large quantity like 100mbs of video files and hundred of pictures, because data is cheaper than MMS costs. This Privacy policy change whill allow Facebook, who bought WhatsApp, to extract all these data for their own purpose, before it was not the case.

Can't all this be done on facebook?

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They recently did pivot to ads but only in certain chats -- for most users nothing will change. And I am glad they did because I want them to survive. Also, Durov has been strongly resistant both to censorship and takeover attempts so far. Which is more than I could say for your average SV startup. I am siding with Telegram still. They have proven themselves many times over and I can only hope that this will continue…

Started with certain chats and will end with probably full on profiling since it's the most profitable

Well, then we'll migrate away to another service -- choice isn't big these days, but it does exist still. That always happened so I am not sure I can stand behind your firm pessimism about them currently.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#477
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.

> As a reminder, Telegram groups are not encrypted at all, and 1:1 chats are not encrypted by default

This isn't just misleading but actually plain wrong.

Unless you want to tell my your internet banking is unencrypted too ;-)

Edit: as seen downthread there a number of ways to make this more or less correct, but as it stand, and particularly with the "at all" at the end of one of the claims it is just plain wrong.

> Telegram can see most of your messages.

This part is technically correct however. Telegram says they taken steps to prevent rouge admins from seing it and to prevent themselves from being able to produce copies for governments, however there's no way for us to know if it was true then, if it is true now, if it is true in the future or at any point in between so worthless if you don't trust them.

If this is a problem for you generally I recommend stop using email, stop sending letters etc and rely only on Signal or Matrix.

For many of us however this is acceptable: we send letters or even post cards fully unencrypted fully aware that they might be read.

We send mails fully aware that it can be read at any server from we send it to the one the recipient download it from.

But for some reason the same level of security is deeply problematic when Telegram is mentioned.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it interesting to that people don't use WhatsApp at all. Many posts here are claiming not using WhatsApp is impossible. Grandparent's experience demonstrate that it is.

It depends on the country you're in and what country your extended family is in. Whatsapp absolutely dominates in South Asia and South America. You can see a full map here: https://www.messengerpeople.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/s... Most Americans, for example, have no need for it. I feel like iMessage is the dominant messaging platform in the U.S.

iMessage is iOS right? because the link you post shows facebook messenger is strongest in the US.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#480

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.

Try not to get mad please, but ... > 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." No such thing as "critical social infrastructure." Could you live without whatsapp? Yes. Then by definition it is not critical. > Asking to leave WhatsApp is like cancelling your contract with your ISP and going offline just b…

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