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wonderful, a successor for whatsapp is now getting its chance. Everybody i know was using gmail for sending messages, and then they did a few awkward redesigns

wonderful, a successor for whatsapp is now getting its chance. Everybody i know was using gmail for sending messages, and then they did a few awkward redesigns and told us that we should not expect too much in terms of privacy [1]. Whatsapp got its chance and promised privacy and integrity - and everybody started to use WhatsApp instead of mail (still they have to store the messages on the server for delivery and don't tell you for how long they do that). I guess new startups that do messaging get another chance. [1] http://techland.time.com/2013/08/14/google-says-gmail-users-have-no-legitimate-expectation-of-privacy/ http://techland.time.com/2013/08/14/google-says-gmail-users-...

rvschuilenburg 10y ago
I remember Telegram saw a huge increase in users shortly after the announcement was made that Facebook would buy WhatsApp.
- collyw 10y ago
  I bought an Ubuntu phone and tried to get my friends to switch to Telegram. Too much momentum with Whatsapp and only 1 in ten users seems to even understand the privacy issues let along get them to act on it.
  - reitanqild 10y ago
    Don't give up : ) After some of my friends swiched a few groups, switching has happened naturally group by group since Telegram arrived and today I just have to struggle with my siblings and a local group that also contains a number of elderly people that I won't force to change. (For those who are not aware Telegram is dimilar to Whatsapp but with less focus on formal verifiable crypto but with other advantages like not-owned-by-neither-Facebook-nor-Google, simpler anf more powerful UI, opensource, a choice of multiple clients, better desktop client, bot API etc etc. The lack of verifiable crypto is still an issue but as long as Facebook owns Whatsapp it seems crypto doesn't help too much :-/ )
  - MichaelMoser123 10y ago
    i am not so sure here; Malcolm Gladwell says that social things depend on a small number of highly connected trend setters - i would think that these trend setters would understand the privacy requirement because they know that their influence is derived from trust (and trusted communication); Also privacy problems seem to be a major turning point where communication gadgets fall out of use.
- kirkdouglas 10y ago
  They still do not have monetization strategy and chats are not encrypted by default.
lima 10y ago
Use Signal: https://whispersystems.org/ https://whispersystems.org/ It uses the same crypto as WhatsApp (same developer), but values your privacy and has properly working audio calls - better than WhatsApp in my experience. It's essentially WhatsApp minus Facebook. And it's open source. The company (and person - Moxie) behind Signal, OpenWhispherSystems, worked with Google and Facebook to add end-to-end encryption to Facebook Messenger, Google Allo and WhatsApp. It's literally the same protocol and Moxie is a highly regarded cryptographer / security researcher. Telegram, which some are suggesting, has encryption as opt-in and their encryption scheme has been widely criticized for being dodgy (see: https://moxie.org/blog/telegram-crypto-challenge/ https://moxie.org/blog/telegram-crypto-challenge/).
- gajjanag 10y ago
  > Use Signal: https://whispersystems.org/ https://whispersystems.org/ I like the idea, but don't know of a good method to get my contacts to use Signal as well without making myself look extreme in my views. Any suggestions for this? For example, do you know of any short and crisp messages that get the point across, without getting into a never ending discussion of privacy and its value?
  - newscracker 10y ago
    I would recommend that you try Signal, Wire and any other messaging platform with just one or two close people. Once you get a hang of the user experience and see any deficiencies and any annoyances first hand, you can decide whether it's even worth asking all your other contacts to try them. My advice: Except Telegram, none of the others (Signal or Wire) are ready as a replacement for WhatsApp in UX or speed as of this moment. But Telegram has end-to-end encryption only for device specific, one-to-one chats (called "Secret chat"). Normal chats are only encrypted during transport and are stored as plain text on the servers and on the devices to support quick searching and multi-device/multi-platform sync.
    - lima 10y ago
      What are you missing with Signal?

rvschuilenburg 10y ago

I remember Telegram saw a huge increase in users shortly after the announcement was made that Facebook would buy WhatsApp.

collyw 10y ago
I bought an Ubuntu phone and tried to get my friends to switch to Telegram. Too much momentum with Whatsapp and only 1 in ten users seems to even understand the privacy issues let along get them to act on it.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  Don't give up : ) After some of my friends swiched a few groups, switching has happened naturally group by group since Telegram arrived and today I just have to struggle with my siblings and a local group that also contains a number of elderly people that I won't force to change. (For those who are not aware Telegram is dimilar to Whatsapp but with less focus on formal verifiable crypto but with other advantages like not-owned-by-neither-Facebook-nor-Google, simpler anf more powerful UI, opensource, a choice of multiple clients, better desktop client, bot API etc etc. The lack of verifiable crypto is still an issue but as long as Facebook owns Whatsapp it seems crypto doesn't help too much :-/ )
- MichaelMoser123 10y ago
  i am not so sure here; Malcolm Gladwell says that social things depend on a small number of highly connected trend setters - i would think that these trend setters would understand the privacy requirement because they know that their influence is derived from trust (and trusted communication); Also privacy problems seem to be a major turning point where communication gadgets fall out of use.
kirkdouglas 10y ago
They still do not have monetization strategy and chats are not encrypted by default.

lima 10y ago

Use Signal: https://whispersystems.org/ https://whispersystems.org/ It uses the same crypto as WhatsApp (same developer), but values your privacy and has properly working audio calls - better than WhatsApp in my experience. It's essentially WhatsApp minus Facebook. And it's open source. The company (and person - Moxie) behind Signal, OpenWhispherSystems, worked with Google and Facebook to add end-to-end encryption to Facebook Messenger, Google Allo and WhatsApp. It's literally the same protocol and Moxie is a highly regarded cryptographer / security researcher. Telegram, which some are suggesting, has encryption as opt-in and their encryption scheme has been widely criticized for being dodgy (see: https://moxie.org/blog/telegram-crypto-challenge/ https://moxie.org/blog/telegram-crypto-challenge/).

gajjanag 10y ago
> Use Signal: https://whispersystems.org/ https://whispersystems.org/ I like the idea, but don't know of a good method to get my contacts to use Signal as well without making myself look extreme in my views. Any suggestions for this? For example, do you know of any short and crisp messages that get the point across, without getting into a never ending discussion of privacy and its value?
- newscracker 10y ago
  I would recommend that you try Signal, Wire and any other messaging platform with just one or two close people. Once you get a hang of the user experience and see any deficiencies and any annoyances first hand, you can decide whether it's even worth asking all your other contacts to try them. My advice: Except Telegram, none of the others (Signal or Wire) are ready as a replacement for WhatsApp in UX or speed as of this moment. But Telegram has end-to-end encryption only for device specific, one-to-one chats (called "Secret chat"). Normal chats are only encrypted during transport and are stored as plain text on the servers and on the devices to support quick searching and multi-device/multi-platform sync.
  - lima 10y ago
    What are you missing with Signal?