Comment by jypepin | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jypepin | Hacker News Reader

I have a few family-related whatsapp groups and I've been thinking about asking/moving those groups to signal, but I really can't imagine my parents/sister/friends to understand, nor care about the facebook data issue. After all, they're all on Facebook and all use it.

I don't think I'll ever get to request it, because I'm pretty sure it's going to fail, especially with my parents and other from this age group - having them download another app, signup, etc. will be too complicated.

My family group is all iphone users, so I thought about moving this to iMessage, which feels more possible, but again, I'm not even sure my parents understand the difference between whatsapp and iMessage, as they send me messages on both platform without much logic.

Like everything else "bad" that happens to Facebook, this event won't change much and impact on whatsapp will, unfortunately, not change anything.

Remember when corporates stopped advertising on Facebook? They're all back.

Some ideas:

1. Install the app when you visit, go to the process together (difficult these days, I know...)

2. If you have many iPhone users in your family, answer on iMessage whenever they send you a WhatsApp. This way you can pull them over slowly

3. If Android users send you a WhatsApp, check if they have Signal installed and answer there instead.

It is "Salami tactics", but works for me.

> I don't think I'll ever get to request it, because I'm pretty sure it's going to fail, especially with my parents and other from this age group - having them download another app, signup, etc. will be too complicated.

I moved my whole family to Signal, and its surprisingly easy. It asks for their phone number, name (it's autocompleted) and a pin. You can create a link to your family's group chat so then can join without needing someone to invite them.

I'm in the process of moving family and friends. For my friends who I believe are more than capable of moving, I just said them that I'm leaving WhatsApp, you can still reach me on Signal. Then I block them on WhatsApp, so I don't relapse. Almost all of them have moved across so far. I installed Signal for my mom and then blocked my myself on WhatsApp on her phone, so she's forced to use Signal to contact me. If someone can use WhatsApp they can definitely use Signal. It's more secure and it's cleaner.

> Then I block them on WhatsApp, so I don't relapse

That's the key move, it takes guts

They all moved to whatsapp one time too, I don't think Signal is any more difficult right?

For the vast majority of people, WhatsApp works just fine; you’re trying to get them off something they’re comfortable with rather than getting them to use something better than SMS.

my 67 year old mother in law switched from whatsapp to signal and told me about it unbidden. its happening.

I don't like "nothing will happen" as a talking point. "Nothing will happen" because... they cornered the market. They're the only game in town. It's the only way for many people to contact their friends. It's not their fault Facebook is a scummy organization run by a sociopath, they don't really have any options. I don't like this implication that the public is to blame

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