Why you might not want to use whatsapp anymore
Why you might not want to use whatsapp anymore
While the popularity of WhatsApp cannot be disputed, the platform has increasingly been under scrutiny for several reasons.
This article didn't really give any new reasons not to use WhatsApp. All the reasons stated in the article are already known. I thought this article was about a new breach or something, but it's a rehash of info that's been around a while. The article is also a few months old, dating back to April.
If there's one thing I've learned, people will use whatever app they're most comfortable with and whatever app their friends use, regardless of security ("I got nothing to hide!") or features ("I don't care about x or y!"). Then you end up like me, using several different apps. That's not necessarily a bad thing as I like using different apps and seeing how features differ from app to app, like how an app shows link previews, or if it can display a meme by pasting the link in the text box vs having to download the image and attach it in-line. But it's hard to get people to switch when a lot of people don't care.
Then you end up like me, using several different apps. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as I like using different apps and seeing how features differ from app to app, like how an app shows link previews, or if it can display a meme by pasting the link in the text box vs having to download the image and attach it in-line.
I want to thank you for this comment. You made me think of something that felt like my mind was expanding a bit. You're mentioning a kind of personal decentralized attitude towards what apps we use.
Why stuck to just one? Why put all eggs in one basket? Yeah, I know it's more comfortable. But being comfortable does not make it safe, failure-proof. With this I'm not trying to point out some faux-pas on your thinking. Rather the reverse. You're hinting at something that bears a lot of meaning.
Instead of me being frustrated because other people won't change their platforms, I can see that as an opportunity to decentralize my own practices. I can embrace other people's immobility as both an example of what I should avoid and of being forced to keep a lot of channels open. While they're stuck into the centralization trap, I'm federating between different instances.
Again, thank you for your comment. It was really eye opening.
The problem is everybody is using it and its impossible to move to signal etc
Dang, I'm feeling pretty lucky that no one in my life uses WhatsApp. Sounds like that's not the norm.
EVERYONE in my backwater country of residence uses WhatsApp and they can't be bothered to use anything else.
When I say I don't have that service then they are stumped and can't think of a way to message me. Fucking morons.
Adults in Austria... Sigh.
Not only everybody, but companies, banks and goverment instances are using it too. Some apps that sends their OTP via WhatsApp. Some companies and instances only reachable.via whatsapp bot and whatnot.
Thats smth that i forgot, corona test results per whatsapp and a lot of companies also just have a whatsapp kontskt on their "kontakt us" page
I even deleted it for a year, but had to re-install it due to not being able to group chat
I used signal and SMS for people who weren't on signal
and even signal removed SMS support so now I use it to talk to 3 people on signal
For some "everyone" not talking to you is a perk.
The people I most care for use Discord. I worry I will lose constant with most of them if I stop using that too but I've never tried to get other to use something else.
As someone from Latin America. FUCK!
It’s literally what everyone uses for business, family/friends groups. Don’t know if any country around here is an exception, but we started using it because greedy telecoms were charging so much money for SMS at the time. So, it was a great way to circumvent that.
Then Facebook bought it when it was already established, so it’s improbable that people will move away from it.
The article isn't very, uh, articulate in its reasoning. Nothing here is an actual real life problem it's all just what-ifs, and 2 billion people aren't going to quit using it
This is one of those times when I’m glad we Luddites in the US still use mostly SMS/MMS. I have managed to avoid anything Facebook/Meta and I would have been pissed if the messaging app that all my friends and family were already using was sold to Zuck.
I think unlimited texting was a thing in the US since like early to mid 2000s. It was never the case down here (probably still isn’t, since nobody uses it).
In fact, by the time cell phones became ubiquitous down here, it was around the time smart phones were launching. So with regular SMS being expensive, everyone just started using WhatsApp. I think back in the day the app was $1.
It’s kind of fucked-up that Zuckerberg has so much power over people’s businesses, study groups, family communications, neighborhood watches, et al. He could put ads on WhatsApp tomorrow, and people will probably take it, because humans are stubborn and like familiarity in general. I could stop using it today, but I would not be able to participate in a lot of things in society.
You can see it now in Reddit and Twitter. They’ve been completely entshittified and people are still there. In fact, we got people on Lemmy wanting to brigade and participate in r/place and give engagement to that shit-sipper Spez, so he can use the metrics on his damn IPO.
Time to move to Telegram/Signal
Signal. Just signal
At least Telegram is there for the porn.
Its simple. Just make a discord server?
I hate to break it to you.
The day it was bought by Meta(Facebook) people should have moved away if you ask me.
Then again that's easy for me to say as someone who doesn't talk to anyone and so doesn't need any messenger apps. However I hear Signal is good.I haven't used it since it was purchased by Facebook.
I seem to remember that the former owner of Whatsapp recommended people NOT use it after he sold it to Zuck.
He financed Signal app after walking away from meta and an addition 3/4 of a billion or something like that. He publicly stated that they’re evil. When financing Signal App his one stipulation was don’t do that
I used it to talk to a girl I met in Europe that lived in Croatia. When we stopped talking, I stopped using it.
I had more friends and family urging me to get on Facebook messenger more than anything else, until iMessage really took off then it reverted to sms on my end.
I would like more clickbait title please, thanks.
anymore
???
The mere thought hadn't even begun to speculate about the merest possibility of crossing my mind...
(Credit to Douglas Adams for the quote... But I'm taking the credit for personally dodging the FB platform)
Good news! I never started!
Despite all of its privacy concerns, one can't really get rid of it if everyone around is using it as the default communication mode, unless you're a social outcast. The thing with communication apps is that they aren't a personal choice.
It is possible without beeing a social outcast. Element, Signal, Telegram and Threema cover most of my contacts. If there really is someone with only Whatsapp, I write a SMS.
In my experience everyone has at least one alternative to Whatsapp.
And lose the ability to interact with all those people that won't be convinced to switch to less of a software gore?
Yeah, definitely great idea, so rebel & stuff...
You should read about EU's proposed law DMA. It aims to solve this problem of not being able to contact friends if you uninstall WhatsApp (or any other app). The link explains it better lol
Weak sauce. If they value you, they'll get in touch. If they don't, they never cared in the first place so what does it matter?
Meanwhile literally everyone uses it here. Choose between forfeiting your privacy or isolation. I've already left Instagram and that cut me out of a good portion of online interaction here. Leaving whatsapp would eliminate most forms of contact I have with people here. The only thing left is mobile calling, and SMS, which is basically forgotten by everyone. The shit that happens when one platform rules over all.
Embrace the void
Kidding. I hear you. I don't have facebook/insta/WhatsApp but my partner does, and it's painfully obvious how much we'd miss out on if she didn't
Ungh, my family all uses it. So I’m kind of forced to use it only for one chat as were all far away. I seriously DON’T want it on my phone though.
Told my family and friends I'll be moving to signal, gave them about 2 months before switching and told everyone if you don't want to install signal, you can always call or text me. Moved my entire family and all of my friends over. They all use WhatsApp as well but realised that there is no problem with using one more app
Deleted whatsapp in 2016 and never looked back.
Anymore? I've literally never used it. Refused to, even.
I used to not use it. I still don't. But I used to not use it too.
Google is pushing RCS pretty hard in a lot of markets. It supplants SMS functionality, and in Google's own "Messages" app, it operates in a way that the end user doesn't have to actively select one oro the other.
RCS also has all (or most of) the features you see in other apps like WhatsApp, etc. It has the potential for end-to-end encryption in the spec, and Google says it's on by default when both parties in a conversation support it, but I don't know if that's actually true or marketing bullshit.
Here's to hoping Google will stick with this one long enough for the standard to take hold. RCS is what messaging should be.
RCS depends on having mobile data, right? What happens if I send a RCS message to someone without data? For me SMS has been a backup solution if I need to be sure the recipient receives the message immediately.
Yeah. RCS requires a data connection -- wifi, mobile data, whatever. Specifically, an internet connection. It is, basically, an internet service.
I can't speak to a lot of different implementations, but Google's "Messenger" app falls back to SMS transparently. Since RCS is a data service, it has the ability to see if the recipient can receive RCS messages and act appropriately.
It's also worth noting that data coverage in the modernized world is pretty wide-spread. There aren't really any more analog cell services, and even the 3G networks are being shut down in favor or 4G / LTE / VoLTE and 5G networks, which are data connections.
I have a distrust of just about all things corporate. That's reason enough for me not to use it.
Yeah, the Meta logo on the commercial was enough to keep me away from this forever.
A Mark Zuckerberg Production
noooo. please.keep boomers and the altright in their bubble. so sad to see the dumbasses leave threads so soon already. there needs to be a default platform for morons to share memes so the real world does not get polluted.
? People in many countries use this like Americans use SMS/texting. In Japan, we use LINE instead. Korea mainly uses Kakaotalk and some LINE, etc. SMS just isn't really used in a number of countries by anyone of any age.
I joined WhatsApp after many years of holding out, there was simply no other practical way to keep in touch with many people. The ways I mitigate the privacy concerns are:
- I got an international eSIM, for the purpose of cheap roaming abroad but since I now had this extra phone number not tied to my identity, I used it for WhatsApp.
- I installed WhatsApp using Island so it has access to just the contacts in the "work profile", that is, just people who have WhatsApp anyway.
This article was AI generated.
This comment was AI generated.
I use it the least possible and mostly for professional or career