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Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#911

Post by Quiark »

eitland wrote: post #607
Quiark wrote: post #553

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still fail to see how switching from fully E2E encrypted WhatsApp to most-of-the-time NOT E2E encrypted Telegram is an improvement.

Because unlike with Facebook no one has been able to show a single example of Telegram abusing their customers even once. Let me use an example: Would you want to ride the absolutely bulletproof and soundproof taxi that has one disadvantage: that it is well known that the drivers make notes about who you are and who you visit and sell that data to companies like Cambridge Analytica? Or would you take another more ord…

That depends whether shooting at taxis on the street is a regular thing.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#912

Post by harpratap »

zinekeller wrote: post #526
kyrra wrote: post #368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a Googler opinions are my own. While Google is the main implementer of RCS servers and clients, a few larger carriers have done their own implementation of it, with no need for Google. Client side, I believe Samsung had their own implementation for it? And Apple could make iMessage RCS compatible, they just have chosen not to at this point. Edit: to add, RCS does support 1:1 encryption now, though I don't believe…

> a few larger carriers have done their own implementation of it And that's why I think RCS shoot itself into the foot. I understand that Google does want to accelerate RCS implementation, and some carriers have actively chose to use Jibe. The main problem I think is that RCS is not differentiated from SMS, especially for those who have a carrier which didn't deployed it yet . In well-developed areas, it make full se…

The teleco stack will switch to IP based completely with 5G, makes no sense to keep RCS in old circuit-switched based SMS. Soon no data will mean no calls/text/anything since data will be all that telecos will provide

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#914

Post by abstract_put »

ColinWright wrote: post #863
thekyle wrote: post #861

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matrix does have a feature called Bridges which would allow you to talk to someone on WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage, etc. through your Matrix client. However, I suspect that they have some reliability issues. https://matrix.org/bridges/

> I suspect that they have some reliability issues. I've heard that they are sufficiently unreliable as to be unusable, that was was some time ago, and things may have changed.

Anecdote: I've been running my own Matrix bridges for WhatsApp and Signal (for my personal accounts) and they've been nothing but rock solid. Caveat being that with the pandemic I've exclusively used them at home, they're hosted on private infrastructure. It was a bit of a thing to set up, not being familiar with Matrix at all before, but now it's a docker-compose file.

To be clear, I send messages from my Matrix client to my Matrix server, software running on that server bridges it to WhatsApp/Signal as appropriate, same for incoming messages. Photos work as well.

I think WhatsApp relies on a data connection to your phone, and the bridge will disconnect whenever that drops. Having set this all up, I'm a pretty big convert to Matrix - just need to get the world on board. I'd love to have an SMS bridge as well, see how far I can go.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#915

Post by zinekeller »

harpratap wrote: post #912
zinekeller wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a few larger carriers have done their own implementation of it And that's why I think RCS shoot itself into the foot. I understand that Google does want to accelerate RCS implementation, and some carriers have actively chose to use Jibe. The main problem I think is that RCS is not differentiated from SMS, especially for those who have a carrier which didn't deployed it yet . In well-developed areas, it make full se…

The teleco stack will switch to IP based completely with 5G, makes no sense to keep RCS in old circuit-switched based SMS. Soon no data will mean no calls/text/anything since data will be all that telecos will provide

And how many years this will last? Mind you that while some countries are already solely running on 4G, there are other countries still having a large 2G phone usage and large 3G data usage. It is only fair to compare it to this - otherwise it would be unfair to those who rely on older technologies to connect to the world.

I need to point out that I do not really disagree with RCS' intent - but Google aggressively trying to promote RCS outside of commited carriers is not just weird but can be dangerous.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#916

Post by fattybob »

I’ve been trying to avoid using WhatsApp since it became Facebook but sadly almost everyone (no it’s everyone) I commmunicate with uses it and doesn’t care what happens to their data. I await the day when something significant occurs that gives the masses that push they need to switch to alternative privacy focused communication.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#917

Post by mschuetz »

dvdgsng wrote: post #908
mschuetz wrote: post #541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matrix, or at least Element, has terrible UX, though, and I'd never recommend it to my family. It opens three message boxes every single time I open the web client, and I can't disable these boxes permanently. Oh, and I have to login again every time because it doesn't remember logins.

What are you running Element on? These issues make no sense. I run multiple clients on several devices, not experiencing such things.

PCs, using the web version. One is "Verify your login" with no option to verify, only skip. The next one is "Are you sure you want to skip?", which is insulting/ironic because skipping is the only option. The third one is "Help us improve Element", which doesn't accept a no and keeps asking again and again. And just now I closed element and trying to open it again results in a white page.

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#918

Post by harpratap »

zinekeller wrote: post #915
harpratap wrote: post #912

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The teleco stack will switch to IP based completely with 5G, makes no sense to keep RCS in old circuit-switched based SMS. Soon no data will mean no calls/text/anything since data will be all that telecos will provide

And how many years this will last? Mind you that while some countries are already solely running on 4G, there are other countries still having a large 2G phone usage and large 3G data usage. It is only fair to compare it to this - otherwise it would be unfair to those who rely on older technologies to connect to the world. I need to point out that I do not really disagree with RCS' intent - but Google aggressively tr…

We can't keep supporting old tech in new world. 2G and 3G is already two decades old, we gotta move on. And I am not talking about killing SMS. 2G/3G will still support SMS, only 4G/5G has to adopt to RCS and use SMS as fallback (like it already does)

Having RCS is still better than being in current situation where you're locked into Whatsapp/iMessage/Some proprietary solution from a carrier

Re: Poll: Switching from WhatsApp

#919

Post by fomine3 »

wraptile wrote: post #910

LINE [1] - is a very popular messenging app in SEA, Japan and Korea. It's more of a service suite (food delivery, news/entertainment streams etc.) but at the core it's a really good messenger. Key features that I like: - Great user-driver sticker ecosystem. Creators can submit their sets to the store and earn pasive income; there's even an sticker creation app [2] - modern, good UX and web-client with default E2E enc…

I argue that LINE is really suck for multiple device support. LINE won't allow multiple iOS/Android device login (unless using "Lite" app or iPad app only for messaging) and basically the app stores messages and other data on the device. They requires to user to manually backup the data to cloud storage when changing device between same OS. The most pain is that they still don't implement data transfer between iOS/Android so chat log and other data is disappeared. Modern chat apps mush not like this.
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