881–890 of 972 posts
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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.
The answer is "none of the above": instead, antitrust regulators in the US (after Jan. 20) and the EU force the breakup of Facebook, restoring WhatsApp's status as an independent company focused on privacy. The WhatsApp users get to keep their preferred platform and Facebook doesn't get the data.
And where does that independent company focused on privacy get its money from?
The answer is "none of the above": instead, antitrust regulators in the US (after Jan. 20) and the EU force the breakup of Facebook, restoring WhatsApp's status as an independent company focused on privacy. The WhatsApp users get to keep their preferred platform and Facebook doesn't get the data.
Yes. Good. So until that happens, what messaging app would you recommend switching to?
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.
Well, I don't know where parent is located, but here in Brazil they are pretty much right. Everybody has WhatsApp... it's assumed that if you have a phone you have WhatsApp. A lot of financial transactions are conducted by doing a bank transfer and then sending the receipt via WhatsApp. The schools send essential messages to parents via WhatsApp. During lockdowns, stores were taking delivery orders via WhatsApp. What…
It's also the cheapest. Because its free with WiFi, and cost less than US$1.00 per day with a data plan. Compare that to phone calls that cost about US$ 0.15 per minute or SMS that cost US$ 0.06. It may not seem much, but when you factor the local minimum wage in urban areas: $1.87/hour or US$ 0.03/minute the difference becomes significant.
Perhaps the closest alternative here would be Telegram. It has niche users like government, NGOs, political organizations and group chats for people with similar interests (like Facebook groups are used in some countries).
I guess, WhatsApp has become like our tropicalized version of WeChat.
Its used to chat with friends, family, group chats (leaving a group chat unannounced is a big faux pas). Almost every class gets a WhatsApp group for coordinating coursework.
Most stores and restaurants, big and small, accept orders via Whatsapp and that way one can avoid the third party app delivery fees. It is also used to send bank transfer confirmations, and gps location pins to coordinate deliveries because our addressing system is not that good.
I even did most my last loan application via WhatsApp. And also discovered last year that the only way to contact one bank about an ACH transfer was via WhatsApp or by visiting a branch.
So basically, it's the most used and most affordable main way to reliably reach anyone or any company. From the largest bank, to the smallest mom and pop store. From my company's founder to the newest intern.
The only thing I still get by plain SMS is multi factor authentication tokens or the ocassional spam message.
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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.
That diagram is for Android only, so I wouldn't read too much into it.
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I'm in Brazil as well. Everybody uses Whatsapp. It is now so entrenched into society that it turned to be part of its popular culture. When people say "I'm part of a group of old car enthusiasts", they meant they are part of a Whatsapp group in which they discuss old cars. Countless online services and apps were replaced by Whatsapp over the years, from the top of my head: all IMs, customer service apps, e-commerce (…
I'm having a hard time understanding how WhatsApp could be convenient enough to replace most online services and apps. Do you send text messages with some magic keywords to order at Burger King, or is there a person on the other end reading it, or how does that work? How do you pay? How do you browse the menu? I don't understand.
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I'm having a hard time understanding how WhatsApp could be convenient enough to replace most online services and apps. Do you send text messages with some magic keywords to order at Burger King, or is there a person on the other end reading it, or how does that work? How do you pay? How do you browse the menu? I don't understand.
In Central America whatsapp also _is_ basically the Internet along with facebook. There is a person on the other end taking your order and payments are always done in cash, although some advanced delivery drivers now carry a credit card swipe machine. Everything is done through whatsapp: bills, ordering food, govt services, parent teacher communications for children in schools, business introductions (dont know anyon…
For them, their phone is their first computer and they never really used e-mail.
Some of them can't recall their e-mail addresses or less their e-mail passwords.
This happens even if Android is the most popular phone and requires a GMail account to be properly set up.
They just create a new GMail account when they get a new phone or somtimes just keep using the GMail account from the previous owner instead.
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A good XMPP solution for non-techs is quicksy.im (which is based on the very solid Android Client 'Conversations'). However, while I use XMPP on a daily basis, we have one big issue: There is no good iOS client. So far I have tested ChatSecure, Monal and Siskin, which all support OMEMO end-2-end encryption, but none comes even close to the quality you would expect. ChatSecure seems to be the most mature, but its deve…
I ended up setting a web interface (converse.js) primarily for use with iOS. No push notifications with it, but also heard that iOS native clients tend to crash and lose messages, and apparently can't run in the background.
As I stated in a reply, so many people on some countries and communities rely on Whatsapp for essential comms. This role used to be filled by SMS, but now people expect a better experience. Why hasn't an alternative to SMS been created yet? We should not be relying on private tech giants to provide this essential service. There should be a fully end-to-end encrypted messaging service, supported by all Telecom provide…
I don't think many people will be disagreeing with you, but for now, and for those of us who don't have the skills to solve the problem, we are left to look for the best option that is available. You've correctly identified all the problems and what should be done ... are you going to work on it? If not, why not? Perhaps the answer to that will tell you why, as far as we know, nobody is working on it. Sure as heckfir…
If anything, this is a task for non-profit orgs like the IEEE, IETF, EFF, etc. to be working on and funding.