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Comment by bruceb | Hacker News Reader

TL:DR WeChat was too big for phones back few years ago when many people didn't have space to spare and data was expensive and slow. WhatsApp compressed files so they loaded quicker and you could keep more of them.

Then in 2016, Tencent for some reason invested in Hike Messenger when it was already in trouble. Hike was created by the son of a telecom guy. Sorta if the son of Verizon's CEO created an instant messenger app and got investment and support from his dad and the company.

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The last time I tried Wechat it slurped into the 300MB range after installation (apk + app data) - I have 3 contacts there.

Comparison:

    WhatsApp apk 39.86MB (2018-10)

I have a few leftover installers for ancient windows, eg. XP, for the fun and memories.

    1.9M Apr 18  2009 SkypeSetup.exe (2.6 I think)
    8.7M Dec 15  2007 trillian-v3.1.9.0.exe

I so badly want the ancient skype back.

Ancient Skype pioneered the concept of having a shim setup and downloading the actual setup.

That's... valid, though I seem to recall that particular version was skype itself. I need to install that on an XP without internet now to verify.

I don't think that is the case.

And the ancient Skype even worked better than the new one... that's the sad part.

Obviously you need to reduce your contact list!

Skype 2.6 was about 15MB, the 2MB is the web installer which pulls in more data. See[1]. Still, a far cry from 300MB -- and does about as much.

[1]https://skype.en.downloadastro.com/old_versions/

It's not only about it being too big. I'd also question what it's doing and why does it need all that space if it is just a texting app. The answer of course is that it aims to be so much more, but couple that with it being from China and it's probably a given that it's doing some spying.

It's so big because it comes with an embedded copy of the QQ browser, which is used to render almost all content. (On Android, on iOS they might have to use WebKit?)

So it's bloated for pretty much the same reason Electron apps are bloated.

WeChat is meant to be the only real app on your phone. They are essentially aiming to replace your phone, the way that AOL tried to be "the internet". So they don't really care if the app occupies your whole phone -- that's the point.

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