I like WhatsApp but it seems that Zuckerberg is determined to destroy it.
At least I now have an incentive to move to Signal and convince my friends to do so, hopefully, or otherwise I’ll be alone. Well, I can always be reached by SMS or email.
I thought Whatsapp use is great in the U.S., but I realized how big it is outside the U.S. when I saw it firsthand. It is insane, there are people who use it to run their entire business/livelihood.
I really hope it stays out of Zuck's "vision" but it likely won't, considering the amount of money he paid for it
As an immigrant from India in the US, when FB bought WhatsApp, I still remember the sense of surprise/wonder among my american freinds/colleagues as to why Whatsapp was worth so much. The kind of traction Whatsapp has, even now in India, is something no bay area startup can even dream of achieving. Every family member, remotely related relatives, every single classmate of mine since childhood, everyone has whatsapp, and almost everyone uses it everyday.
as someone who has no FB apps on phone other than whatsapp, I hope/wish this move means someone from messenger/insta can send message to Whatsapp account and vice versa. Nothing more than that.
FB has done a good job in keeping Whatsapp true to it's core features (except the status/stories debacle). Once it's whatsapp payments / business messaging picks up, there's no looking back for FB even if it's core FB web platform goes to zero, Whatsapp + Messenger + Instagram will be a force to reckon with.
Switched to signal over a month ago and couldn't be happier. Only downside is slowness (might take up to 30 seconds) to sync conversations across devices if you haven't used a device in a while or you had a massive chat history with someone.
I'm repeating some of this from elsewhere on this page. I'd recommend trying out Wire first, since it's better than Signal (message delivery, speed, reliability, doesn't require a phone number to sign up, has usernames, etc.). A better user experience is easier to sell to others. Not everyone is interested in or cares about privacy or security, more so if it comes with penalties on the user experience (which Signal does).
Neither Signal nor Wire (or Telegram, for that matter) deal with SMS. On iOS, third party apps cannot access SMS. SMS is accessible only to Apple’s Messages app. But Wire does have video calls and chat.
At least I now have an incentive to move to Signal and convince my friends to do so, hopefully, or otherwise I’ll be alone. Well, I can always be reached by SMS or email.