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Most of the world outside of the US runs on Whatsapp.

SMS is not an option because, again outside of the US, people pay by SMS sent.

There are plans for Whatsapp interop but probably only in the EU.

https://www.wired.com/story/whatsapp-interoperability-messag...

Signal exists, Telegram exists, and many providers are actually not charging per sms.

In many countries, WhatsApp's data usage is zero-rated, which makes WhatsApp more attractive than Signal, Telegram, etc.

sounds like a bit of a government sanctioned monopoly.

I mean for context, in those countries Meta paid to setup these networks. They're not a government-enforced monopoly, you're more than welcome to start a competing network.

they did this while the usa public was up in arms against them doing this in India. meanwhile meta was eating south America, eu, Africa...

Whatsapp has 3 billion active users.

Countries like Mexico or Spain have adopted it as the default form of messaging. Only today I used it to chat with our lawn maintenance guy, our car washer, and someone who's repairing our espresso machine.

I could maybe try to convince friends and family to use another app but I won't be convincing an entire country.

Think global. Act local

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