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This feature is such a killer. I love it. WhatsApp bots are overly simplistic. I'm not talking about specific implementations where bots only accept simple str

This feature is such a killer. I love it. WhatsApp bots are overly simplistic. I'm not talking about specific implementations where bots only accept simple strings or just integer numbers (your typical city bot), I know that's not WhatsApp's fault. It's just that WhatsApp bot capabilities have these 1.0 vibes. Bots that just chat and aren't rich anyhow like Telegram ones. WhatsApp bots don't come close, and WhatsApp users live in such Plato's Cave with it. I just wish The West could come up with something like this, and at the same time not coming from your typical FAANG. That'd make me jump ship. Such a great product management. Also, Zuckerberg is so deep in the privacy troubles with the Congress, that he cannot open WhatsApp Bot API freely like Telegram can. That hinders the development of bots in WhatsApp a lot. Only big companies have direct WhatsApp API access and are able to re-sell it through tech partnerships (e.g.: You cannot call WhatsApp's API directly, you have to pay a company like Freshworks for its Freshchat product and then you can use WhatsApp's API indirectly through Freshchat API, walling the garden this much is just non-sense). -- Full disclosure: I love Telegram far more than WhatsApp. I resent WhatsApp because I'm not able to quit it because of network effects. I also recently berated my phone carrier for offering WhatsApp for free, but not other messenger apps (which also violates my net neutrality rights). Disclaimer: I know Telegram gets a lot of hate because of its Russian origins. Same hate TikTok gets for seemingly being CCP-controlled.

blep-arsh 4y ago
Telegram offers a powerful platform but the default client is so weird. I'd very much prefer interacting with a website instead. For example, every bit of the UI is so aggressively animated, emoji, stickers, full-screen effects, it's a pain to look at. Meanwhile the iPad client still can't properly handle the hardware keyboard or even switching to another app and back (the input field gets stuck floating mid-screen).
Self-Perfection 4y ago
I had to start WhatsApp a year ago due to network effect. Though I despise the idea of communication network that forbids you from creating alternative clients. At least I managed to vent the steam off by setting an image that asks to write to me via Telegram instead as my avatar. You can find it here: https://gist.github.com/Self-Perfection/f470d5120f938221769dbf5990e28e3e https://gist.github.com/Self-Perfection/f470d5120f938221769d.... The image is in SVG format, so you can customize it to your liking.

blep-arsh 4y ago

Telegram offers a powerful platform but the default client is so weird. I'd very much prefer interacting with a website instead. For example, every bit of the UI is so aggressively animated, emoji, stickers, full-screen effects, it's a pain to look at. Meanwhile the iPad client still can't properly handle the hardware keyboard or even switching to another app and back (the input field gets stuck floating mid-screen).

Self-Perfection 4y ago

I had to start WhatsApp a year ago due to network effect. Though I despise the idea of communication network that forbids you from creating alternative clients. At least I managed to vent the steam off by setting an image that asks to write to me via Telegram instead as my avatar. You can find it here: https://gist.github.com/Self-Perfection/f470d5120f938221769dbf5990e28e3e https://gist.github.com/Self-Perfection/f470d5120f938221769d.... The image is in SVG format, so you can customize it to your liking.