4 ms·

Ask HN: Paid alternatives to WhatsApp

8 points by reacharavindh 10y ago

Do y'all know of a paid cross platform messaging service that respects user privacy in everyday, and not do creepy stuff? "paid" because I'd like them to stay in business.

tue4Iezi 10y ago
https://threema.ch/ https://threema.ch/
- dnh44 10y ago
  I got threema at launch for iOS. Still haven't managed to find anyone else using it unfortunately.
  - reacharavindh 10y ago
    Same here. Threema sounds best on paper. I'm definitely going to try to use atleast within my family. But, I don't hope to have a thriving network around it any time soon. Too bad the masses don't get the privacy angle in free products. I feel like FB<->WhatsApp is counting on just that by using a unintuitive "opt-out" policy. The moms,dads, and not so tech aware citizens won't even know what goes on underneath. They would be feeling falsely proud to use a 'secure','E-E encrypted' service not knowing 'privacy' is different from them.
msh 10y ago
well not paid but signal seems pretty well funded and not likely to sell.
iends 10y ago
What about Telegram? It's free though...
- vemy 10y ago
  Telegram doesn't use encryption by default.
  - reacharavindh 10y ago
    Yes, I realized that after I gave it a try. Felt really really dumb considering they have the facility already.
JepZ 10y ago
I am wondering why everybody wants a service provider and nobody seems to care about an open solution. If you choose an provider you are always bound to its fate. We have 20+ global messaging networks which do not cooperate/communicate with each other. I am using XMPP and it works as good as any other messaging app (fast end-2-end encryption included). And since it is an _federated_ protocol I am not bound to any provider. There is just one major problem: There seems to be a lack of client developers, because most clients are simply not up-to-date. I am using 'conversations' as an android client, which is quite good, but the desktop clients seem to lack any development momentum.
mrios 10y ago
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gasit/id659093855?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gasit/id659093855?ls=1&mt=8
- mrios 10y ago
  Let me know what you think, if you get to try it out.

8 points by reacharavindh 10y ago

Do y'all know of a paid cross platform messaging service that respects user privacy in everyday, and not do creepy stuff? "paid" because I'd like them to stay in business.

tue4Iezi 10y ago

https://threema.ch/ https://threema.ch/

dnh44 10y ago
I got threema at launch for iOS. Still haven't managed to find anyone else using it unfortunately.
- reacharavindh 10y ago
  Same here. Threema sounds best on paper. I'm definitely going to try to use atleast within my family. But, I don't hope to have a thriving network around it any time soon. Too bad the masses don't get the privacy angle in free products. I feel like FB<->WhatsApp is counting on just that by using a unintuitive "opt-out" policy. The moms,dads, and not so tech aware citizens won't even know what goes on underneath. They would be feeling falsely proud to use a 'secure','E-E encrypted' service not knowing 'privacy' is different from them.

msh 10y ago

well not paid but signal seems pretty well funded and not likely to sell.

iends 10y ago

What about Telegram? It's free though...

vemy 10y ago
Telegram doesn't use encryption by default.
- reacharavindh 10y ago
  Yes, I realized that after I gave it a try. Felt really really dumb considering they have the facility already.

JepZ 10y ago

I am wondering why everybody wants a service provider and nobody seems to care about an open solution. If you choose an provider you are always bound to its fate. We have 20+ global messaging networks which do not cooperate/communicate with each other. I am using XMPP and it works as good as any other messaging app (fast end-2-end encryption included). And since it is an _federated_ protocol I am not bound to any provider. There is just one major problem: There seems to be a lack of client developers, because most clients are simply not up-to-date. I am using 'conversations' as an android client, which is quite good, but the desktop clients seem to lack any development momentum.

mrios 10y ago

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gasit/id659093855?ls=1&mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gasit/id659093855?ls=1&mt=8

mrios 10y ago
Let me know what you think, if you get to try it out.