Seriously, is there something so sticky about WhatsApp (other than being a new vector for Facebook to invade your life) that almost any alternative isn't preferable? We block it outright.
Not to mention, the alternatives aren't great. I'm sure others will provide a better breakdown, but at a high level:
- Signal is the best alternative but missing features like crazy that really do matter to "normal" people (can't change your phone number! Stickers only can be added from the desktop app)
- Telegram a) has a poor reputation in my greater social circle b) doesn't actually encrypt by default
- Matrix is simply not accessible to anyone who isn't highly computer literate
1) Download app 2) Sign in
How to use Signal:
1) Download app 2) Sign in
I can't see a single thing WhatsApp or Facebook messenger can do for me that signal can't do better because I simply don't need SoMe on my phone. I need encrypted SMS. Anything more than that is worse than what I already got.
To paraphrase someone young from my family: "Facebook is for old people". So is WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. But of course it's just an anecdote that covers 100% of the people I happen to know. So from my bubble I don't believe for a second that they have a future. Signal might. As encrypted SMS but not otherwise.
[1]: https://silence.im/
edit:
F-droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.smssecure.smssecure
Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.smssecure....
Also here for F-droid users: https://f-droid.org/packages/org.smssecure.smssecure
I'm not a Signal user though after giving them several tries, and that decision seems more final by each passing days. I find I disagree too much with how their leadership and organization have behaved in relation to other projects and the direction they continue to take Signal.
Each to their own though.
I don't know anything about the source, but on the bottom left I can see it says "Source: Facebook internal [something]". Various other searches corroborate similar numbers. There are about 80 Million people in Germany, so this is substantial.
It also matches my (anecdotical, yes) experience of pretty much all my friends and family in Germany using WhatsApp, and me having done so as well before I moved to the US. I remember the impetus being that at that time (long before they were acquired by Facebook), SMS were expensive in Germany, but WhatsApp over data was (effectively) "free". I believe this to be the main reason why WhatsApp took hold in many countries, while it didn't so much in others (e.g. the US, where I think individual SMS were always free, but not sure).
Nowadays, some of my folks in Germany at least use Signal or iMessage.
I still pay $0.15 per sms. Ok i'm on a prepaid plan but still, that's ridiculous. And my separate (very slow, but more than good enough for HN, voip etc.) mobile internet only sim is $4/month. Of of course with signal that is effectively almost a flatrate for all calls and texts.
Many I know have basically zero data in their plan as they don't need it for anything so there's no way WhatsApp or FB messenger can be cheaper than SMS. I think the price with only 1gb data and free SMS/MMS is something like $6.
I find that whatever number I call from the "local craiglist" where people sell items, I find them on whatsapp.
Nearby "home depot" accepts orders over whatsapp. I can even send pics for what I want!
Kindergarden - all parents and teachers form a group and communicate there, ask questions, make announcements. Teachers may share pictures what kids are doing.
School classrooms form groups.
...
SMS unfortunately cannot share pics and videos, and location which is sometimes handy and cannot form groups.
So getting out of whatsapp is, well... big inconvenience. No one has even invited me to Signal.
Same here in Wales. We are in the insane situation where local taxpayer-funded bodies such as schools compel people to use foreign, tax-evading commercial services in order to fully participate.
>SMS unfortunately cannot share pics and videos, and location
MMS can. Not only that but it is only old people that use these things according to the younger people I know. Just today I read an article about emojis: It's only for old people. Matches my experience perfectly. These chatsnsill soon die out and be replaced by something different.
I get the feeling from your comment that you are proud of the fact many in India use these awful apps. It's not something to be proud of. You are paying with your privacy and in India that can cause you harm a lot easier than in Denmark.
You answered your own question. And "everyone" does have WhatsApp.
"Everyone" (scare quotes) does have it in Europe. Not having it absolutely draws comment, in a similar way that not having a Facebook account drew comment some years back. And as to why nobody defaults to the lowest common denominator of SMS, WhatsApp is vastly superior to SMS:
-seamless picture, video, and audio messaging - this is always super janky / broken on MMS
-built-in interface to Giphy
-integrated video and voice calling
-group chats (especially this)
These features are optimized for use by a meme-loving, highly social, audio-visually oriented userbase. Posting a reaction gif to a funny group chat thread is 1) vital culture and 2) impossible on SMS. That's why.
Telegram, Signal and Whatsapp have tools for handling tens or hundreds of people in a group. (Telegram more than the others).
Also, everyone here has (near)unlimited data, so using a non-SMS communication tool is free. SMS have either a flat budget (1k SMS per month) or cost per message.
Oh, and sending pictures/videos over plain SMS is just horrible.
probably something like the preferred network to talk to someone or something.
I would have agreed about a year ago, but the reference implementations have been slowly and steadily improving, as have alternative Matrix clients. If I still had contacts who struggled with Element, I might look at (for example) FluffyChat.
People use either Instagram or WhatsApp to chat.
Everyone here uses it now, and this include sevearl business and organizations, I heard even some government communication can only be done with Whatsapp, so basically we are stuck with it.
It's a pandemic. I haven't seen my friends in a year. I want to have the option to talk to them. Due to health risks of my spouse, and due to vaccine delays, I will not see them until autumn.
Blocking Whatsapp may very well amount to cutting off a lot of contacts for me - not that I have many. More social isolation is a high price to pay at this point.
Don't get my wrong though, my soul burns with seething hatred for Whatsapp and Facebook over this. If I'd meet someone working for these companies, I might very well spit in their face. Heck, if any of you work for these companies, shame on you. You are taking advantage of the situation, of people being isolated. And you know it.
But yeah - around these parts, Whatsapp is THE message app everyone uses. And it's sticky. Very much so.
What sucks though is that when you delete your account, WhatsApp doesn’t hide or delete your threads on other people’s phones. That means that people continue to send messages, and don’t realize they aren’t delivered unless they come back to the thread and are tech-clever enough to realize there is only one light grey check-mark, and not two.