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Comment by mcjiggerlog | Hacker News Reader

I've been using Whatsapp since 2010 and this is the first time I've considered dropping it; all I want is an easy to use chat client. What the hell were they thinking? I'm no expert but I would guess that >50% of their userbase does not want this feature at all. My grandma uses Whatsapp!

I think this could be the beginning of the end for Whatsapp's ubiquity. It's such a shame as Whatsapp has such insane market penetration here (UK/Spain) that it is going to be a huge mess to try to switch to an alternative. I literally haven't received an SMS from a friend in years.

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Here in Italy Telegram is slowly gaining traction. Even the municipality in my city uses it (for traffic notices and other warnings), very useful. Bonus points: bots, Gif search and stickers!

WhatsApp can be more than just a messaging alterative. So far they've added small features incrementally and it would seem have been successful with this approach.

This features genuinely adds to the user experience and its nice to have a way of sharing statuses with most if not all of my contact list as opposed to a select few that use snap chat.

My only gripe is the privacy concerns, I can't help but feel Facebook will combine all data one day and most worryingly in retrospect.

>> "This features genuinely adds to the user experience and its nice to have a way of sharing statuses with most if not all of my contact list as opposed to a select few that use snap chat."

This feature is now in TWO Facebook owned apps (WhatsApp + Instagram) and I recently read that they're also bringing it to Facebook (currently testing with some users). So now I have three identical products from the same company. It doesn't make sense to update the story in each app. Some friends will update one over the other and now I have three stories to check. That's the opposite of adding to the user experience in my opinion. Give them a bit more time and I'll have three identical Facebook apps just with different icons on my phone.

Facebook Messenger also has similar feature.

Based on the Legal policy update a while ago[1].They should be planning to do much more than social features. I (personally) expect something like the We Chat model.

[1]:https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/#terms-of-service

My wife and her friends use WhatsApp for community and event organization. I look at this as more of a response to user demand than overstepping by Facebook.

Seriously? I'm pretty sure they have a better grasp on who their userbase is, and what they want than a random internet commenter.

What is wrong with regular SMS? i guess i can understand whatsapp popularity in developing countries where SMS is expensive...

SMS are not only being charged in developing countries. lol e.g. Spain has symmetric 300Mb (home) connections for ~50€/month but SMS are still being charged.

I can't go between my phone and a web browser (relatively) seamlessly with SMS.

Google Voice solved that one pretty easily for me, but point taken.

It's also worth mentioning that the countries where WhatsApp is most heavily used do not have Google Voice.

Some day we will start downvoting people who reminds us again and again that we are missing out on Google Voice - but not today.

/jk

Not the OP, but here are just a few things that immediately sprang to my mind:

* Group MMS messages are a nightmare so people in my demographic often use GroupMe to facilitate them

* I'm not even sure if attaching images and other media on MMS messages is supposed to work consistently. I usually end up with an image that has been severely degraded in quality

* No read notifications, which can be useful if you goose to enable them on WhatsApp, Signal, etc.

* Poor security, I would assume that SMS is far easier for law enforcement to illegally bug

* Conversing with people who are in different countries as SMS typically invokes outrageous charges, and my mobile provider includes 2G data in most countries

* Can't use SMS on a computer unless through something like Google Voice, which isn't a pure SMS solution

* Message history backups are much better documented on WhatsApp/Signal, so that I've never bothered to figure out how to restore SMS history after I get a new phone or install a new ROM on my phone (Android)

Communicating across borders which is now usually included in unlimited SMS plans.

Too late to edit. Should be *not usually included.

Main benefits of whatsapp (or similar):

* Free international communication

* Read/typing receipts

* Faster and more reliable

* Sending of media

* Group chats that actually work

* Seamless usage across desktop/mobile

Going back to SMS is like going back to the dark ages after getting used to a proper web-based chat client. As far as I can tell pretty much the only place where technical users still use SMS is the US.

> Seamless usage across desktop/mobile

This isn't true for Whatsapp and was my main technical reason for leaving Whatsapp for Telegram.

(I have another post in this thread that explains my reasoning WRT security.)

Definitely works better on Telegram, agreed.

The problem is my mom, and non-technical friends are NOT on Telegram, so Whatsapp it is for the foreseeable future.

I got my in-laws over to Telegram and we migrated a large group that included lot of retired people over earlier this year ...

but my family is stubborn like myself and refuse to change.

Practical advice or anyone who decides to try:

- recommend it to friends at your age first.

- emphasize ease of use, not security (also I wouldn't even feel comfortable telling people that Telegram is more secure)

- both can be used free of charge so I am fine with communicating with my stubborn siblings on Whatsapp and everyone else on other platforms.

This is why I wish I could get my wife to switch to Signal with me. But she doesn't want to check two different apps for the same thing. Everyone else she would chat with would be using just SMS/iMessage. I really really wish apps like this would pick up more traction here in the States.

Couple things:

- Paying for domestic text messages

- Paying for international text messages

- Being able to add / remove participants from a conversation

- Paying for roaming charges (SMS v.s. chat app over wifi)

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