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>WhatsApp or something else for group chats. People can say what they want about facebook. WhatsApp as a messenger is just 10000% better than the stock SMS app

>WhatsApp or something else for group chats. People can say what they want about facebook. WhatsApp as a messenger is just 10000% better than the stock SMS apps on iphone and android. The number of annoying conversations I've had about converting people to using it make 0 sense. Group SMS as a problem is just SOLVED by using whatsapp. There are some minor sticking points when traveling and having multiple sims with multiple numbers, but those problems are even worse when using stock SMS anyway. Whatsapp even has POLLS ... POLLS PEOPLE what an incredible feature for group messaging. Edit: I am not oblivious to network effects. I am bemoaning the consequences of them really. Just like I f*cking hate venmo as a user experience, yet I have to use this POS app because everyone else does. I've given up on that fight though.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago
It's the definition of network effects and the power of defaults. I've had this same discussion before a few times, and when you're the lone one out of a large group, people just roll their eyes. And I don't really blame them, as iMessage does work great for the most part, so switching is primarily added hassle. If it's this painful as an old guy, I can't imagine what it's like for teenagers.
crazygringo 4y ago
> The number of annoying conversations I've had about converting people to using it make 0 sense. It's network effects. It's not about convincing one person, it's that they need to convince all their friends. Who need to convince all their friends. Who need to convince the entire country. Because what's even more annoying than missing the features from WhatsApp, is having to remember which app to use with which person and with which groups of people. Hopefully that makes more than 0 sense. :)
- crossroadsguy 4y ago
  > to remember which app to use with which person and with which groups of people It should be a cross platform app. Simple :)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
hotpotamus 4y ago
My parents went to Costa Rica recently and were told in advance that basically the entire country used WhatsApp as their VoIP/messaging system. So I took it upon myself to get it going on their phones and mine as a result. And you know what? It's pretty good. It solved the Android vs iOS interoperability issues and I was able to tell my parents that no matter where they are, as long as they can connect to wifi, they can send messages. I'm not thrilled that it's a Meta product, but I'm inclined to believe them when they tell me it's end-to-end encrypted, so I've more or less adopted it as the neutral messaging app I'd recommend.
ninkendo 4y ago
> Group SMS as a problem is just SOLVED by using whatsapp. I tried using WhatsApp once and there’s essentially no way to use it unless you give it access to your entire address book. You have to give it every single bit of metadata about every contact on your phone (which they will surely use to place you on a social graph to build a profile of you) in order to use it. Fuck that.

hn_throwaway_99 4y ago

It's the definition of network effects and the power of defaults. I've had this same discussion before a few times, and when you're the lone one out of a large group, people just roll their eyes. And I don't really blame them, as iMessage does work great for the most part, so switching is primarily added hassle. If it's this painful as an old guy, I can't imagine what it's like for teenagers.

crazygringo 4y ago

> The number of annoying conversations I've had about converting people to using it make 0 sense. It's network effects. It's not about convincing one person, it's that they need to convince all their friends. Who need to convince all their friends. Who need to convince the entire country. Because what's even more annoying than missing the features from WhatsApp, is having to remember which app to use with which person and with which groups of people. Hopefully that makes more than 0 sense. :)

crossroadsguy 4y ago
> to remember which app to use with which person and with which groups of people It should be a cross platform app. Simple :)
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

hotpotamus 4y ago

My parents went to Costa Rica recently and were told in advance that basically the entire country used WhatsApp as their VoIP/messaging system. So I took it upon myself to get it going on their phones and mine as a result. And you know what? It's pretty good. It solved the Android vs iOS interoperability issues and I was able to tell my parents that no matter where they are, as long as they can connect to wifi, they can send messages. I'm not thrilled that it's a Meta product, but I'm inclined to believe them when they tell me it's end-to-end encrypted, so I've more or less adopted it as the neutral messaging app I'd recommend.

ninkendo 4y ago

> Group SMS as a problem is just SOLVED by using whatsapp. I tried using WhatsApp once and there’s essentially no way to use it unless you give it access to your entire address book. You have to give it every single bit of metadata about every contact on your phone (which they will surely use to place you on a social graph to build a profile of you) in order to use it. Fuck that.