4 ms·

I think you are an outlier in that regard. Almost nobody I know is using any other messaging app instead of WhatsApp, and I just graduated out of University so

I think you are an outlier in that regard. Almost nobody I know is using any other messaging app instead of WhatsApp, and I just graduated out of University so my social circle consists of a lot of fresh engineering grads. It is hard for me to convince even my batchmates to install signal. I think people don't want to install anything else as none of their contacts are on any other platform.

saagarjha 8y ago
It really depends on where you live. If you're in say, India, then sure, what you've said is probably true. But it's certainly not true everywhere in the world.
iamdave 8y ago
Since we're sharing anecdotes as qualitative data points, my experience has been the exact opposite: every last one of my friends that were on WhatsApp have migrated to Signal. I followed them. We're all US based, with two exceptions in the UK.
mfoy_ 8y ago
I tried to get my friends who use WhatsApp to switch to Signal during the big Delete Facebook movement... I got a lot of pushback. It did not happen. :(
- trumped 8y ago
  pushing people to change habits is hard...
ksec 8y ago
Where are you from? I think location and Culture makes a huge difference. Whatsapp wasnt even a thing in US before Facebook bought it. France was mainly iMessages ( transition from SMS ) before Facebook acquired WhatsApp. Then there are places like China which no one uses WhatsApp.
- msaharia 8y ago
  WhatsApp has giant user bases in India, South America, and Africa.
  - omaranto 8y ago
    Here in Mexico too.
- whatyoucantsay 8y ago
  WhatsApp and especially LINE were heavily used in China until they were blocked. After that, local company Tencent's WeChat became dominant.
pmlnr 8y ago
Everybody has a certain messaging app on their phone: it's called SMS. Add one more, that's already two.
- SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
  Are there good apps that support "chat room" style activities? Google Messages falls over when you try to send out mass messages. I'd like to see a sms app that allows one to have mass messaging - it's the only reason I keep WhatsApp around - coordinating with a group of friends.
  - lloeki 8y ago
    Do Telegram groups, supergroups, or channels fit the bill? https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-39s-the-difference-between-groups-supergroups-and-channel https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-39s-the-difference-between-g...
- agentdrtran 8y ago
  SMS sucks, though.
  - pmlnr 8y ago
    Sure. So do centralized, mobile-only systems, where your id is a phone number.
    - romwell 8y ago
      And not just a phone number, but a phone number in a specific format. It took me more than 10 minutes to figure out how to add a friend with a phone number from Spain. The trick was adding a space in the right place. In the meantime, she couldn't find me by my US number. Turns out, different countries format the phone numbers differently, and Whatsapp gets confused. Just for US numbers, you have +1(xxx)xxx-xxxx, xxx-xxx-xxxx, 1xxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxx,(xxx)xxx xxxx, xxx xxx xxxx - and I don't know which one Whatsapp uses internally for ID. For what it's worth, entering the phone number exactly as it shows up on my account info didn't work. TL;DR: a phone number does not a good ID make.

saagarjha 8y ago

It really depends on where you live. If you're in say, India, then sure, what you've said is probably true. But it's certainly not true everywhere in the world.

iamdave 8y ago

Since we're sharing anecdotes as qualitative data points, my experience has been the exact opposite: every last one of my friends that were on WhatsApp have migrated to Signal. I followed them. We're all US based, with two exceptions in the UK.

mfoy_ 8y ago

I tried to get my friends who use WhatsApp to switch to Signal during the big Delete Facebook movement... I got a lot of pushback. It did not happen. :(

trumped 8y ago
pushing people to change habits is hard...

ksec 8y ago

Where are you from? I think location and Culture makes a huge difference. Whatsapp wasnt even a thing in US before Facebook bought it. France was mainly iMessages ( transition from SMS ) before Facebook acquired WhatsApp. Then there are places like China which no one uses WhatsApp.

msaharia 8y ago
WhatsApp has giant user bases in India, South America, and Africa.
- omaranto 8y ago
  Here in Mexico too.
whatyoucantsay 8y ago
WhatsApp and especially LINE were heavily used in China until they were blocked. After that, local company Tencent's WeChat became dominant.

pmlnr 8y ago

Everybody has a certain messaging app on their phone: it's called SMS. Add one more, that's already two.

SketchySeaBeast 8y ago
Are there good apps that support "chat room" style activities? Google Messages falls over when you try to send out mass messages. I'd like to see a sms app that allows one to have mass messaging - it's the only reason I keep WhatsApp around - coordinating with a group of friends.
- lloeki 8y ago
  Do Telegram groups, supergroups, or channels fit the bill? https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-39s-the-difference-between-groups-supergroups-and-channel https://telegram.org/faq#q-what-39s-the-difference-between-g...
agentdrtran 8y ago
SMS sucks, though.
- pmlnr 8y ago
  Sure. So do centralized, mobile-only systems, where your id is a phone number.
  - romwell 8y ago
    And not just a phone number, but a phone number in a specific format. It took me more than 10 minutes to figure out how to add a friend with a phone number from Spain. The trick was adding a space in the right place. In the meantime, she couldn't find me by my US number. Turns out, different countries format the phone numbers differently, and Whatsapp gets confused. Just for US numbers, you have +1(xxx)xxx-xxxx, xxx-xxx-xxxx, 1xxxxxxxxxx, xxxxxxxxxx,(xxx)xxx xxxx, xxx xxx xxxx - and I don't know which one Whatsapp uses internally for ID. For what it's worth, entering the phone number exactly as it shows up on my account info didn't work. TL;DR: a phone number does not a good ID make.