WhatsApp actually has decent encryption. The company behind it is also less shady (some millionaire “giving away” a free chat service that’s unencrypted? And then tries to fund itself with cryptocurrency and ads? Not great!). WhatsApp’s encryption hasn’t been broken so far, despite its proprietary apps leaving a potential for backdoors.
Telegrams apps have a much better desktop user experience than most secure alternatives. I blame the Electron based design versus a native Qt based design. Signal is just as clunky ad WhatsApp, if not worse.
In the end, it’s the network effect. Americans swear by SMS/RCS and iMessage. Some countries almost exclusively use Line. WeChat had a user base even WhatsApp and iMessage could only dream of.
I’d love for my peers to install a Matrix client and chat with them over an open network. I’ll also gladly set up an XMPP client if anyone wants me to use thst. However, if you’re picky about what apps you use, you’ll be “that friend that requires a specific app to talk to”. In many countries (like large sections of Europe) WhatsApp is the safe default everyone can use because it was one of the very first phone oriented chat apps that brought in a huge user base.
Telegram is also a popular method for extremists to talk to a large audience through channels. ISIS and far-right extremists have used this feature to radicalise more and more people, which have given Telegram a bad name.
WhatsApp actually has decent encryption. The company behind it is also less shady (some millionaire “giving away” a free chat service that’s unencrypted? And then tries to fund itself with cryptocurrency and ads? Not great!). WhatsApp’s encryption hasn’t been broken so far, despite its proprietary apps leaving a potential for backdoors.
Telegrams apps have a much better desktop user experience than most secure alternatives. I blame the Electron based design versus a native Qt based design. Signal is just as clunky ad WhatsApp, if not worse.
In the end, it’s the network effect. Americans swear by SMS/RCS and iMessage. Some countries almost exclusively use Line. WeChat had a user base even WhatsApp and iMessage could only dream of.
I’d love for my peers to install a Matrix client and chat with them over an open network. I’ll also gladly set up an XMPP client if anyone wants me to use thst. However, if you’re picky about what apps you use, you’ll be “that friend that requires a specific app to talk to”. In many countries (like large sections of Europe) WhatsApp is the safe default everyone can use because it was one of the very first phone oriented chat apps that brought in a huge user base.
Telegram is also a popular method for extremists to talk to a large audience through channels. ISIS and far-right extremists have used this feature to radicalise more and more people, which have given Telegram a bad name.
I’d love for something like WeChat to be a thing outside of china
(without the blatant violations of privacy lol)