Does anyone here use Whatsapp? A dear friend is travelling overseas and wants to stay in touch using it. Is there anything I should be wary of? Would prefer to get some opinions before signing up.
EDIT: thanks everyone - that’s super helpful info.
Whatsapp is about contacts (i.e. phone contacts) rather than friends or followers. It means someone with your phone number can get access to info you set in Whatsapp unless you tweak the privacy settings. When you sign up, go to the Privacy tab and go through the “Who can see my personal info” section to make sure it suits your preferences. I don’t like to show my picture to anyone who has messaged me unless I’ve saved them as a contact, for example.
The other quirk is “auto-download” I think turned on by default, which means images etc. that get sent to you get saved to your phone. If you’re just swapping memes it can clog things up. Have a play and see what works for you.
It’s basically another Facebook Messenger app. It was its own app until 2016/2017 sometime when Facebook bought it. Your contacts will be shared with Facebook. For all of that, it’s a decent messenger.
I don’t personally use it any more because I hate all things Facebook.
I went with Telegram, which functionally at least was pretty identical to WhatsApp back when I had both apps.
Telegram has a bunch of other stuff these days (channels etc); I still only use it for chatting with family and friends. I had leverage over my family: I was in Melbourne and the single source on the Internet of grandchildren photos was Telegram. So they all signed up to it. 😃
Signal didn’t exist 10 years ago when this all happened. Encryption is nice and all, but kid photos aren’t exactly state secrets and the user experience of Telegram is 10x better than Signal.
Literally the same situation my side, but I still primarily use WhatsApp as Meta can’t share/use my data and businesses cannot communicate with me due to me still declining the updated terms, they were supposed to reduce functionality for people like me but I’m guessing the list is now too small to invest the effort in to implementing.
Even getting family on to Telegram was impossible so completely understand about just using it for normal person stuff is already a hard sell. Signal is solely for some of my tech friends who really want privacy, but don’t actually need it as it’s just banter, nothing that couldn’t be said in public :/
Annoying having all three installed, but at least I don’t have FB messenger!
Does anyone here use Whatsapp? A dear friend is travelling overseas and wants to stay in touch using it. Is there anything I should be wary of? Would prefer to get some opinions before signing up.
EDIT: thanks everyone - that’s super helpful info.
Scammers who have your phone number (like those scam call thingies) will send you msgs, you can just block and report them.
Otherwise, you just add your friend by the number they will be using overseas (mobile) and you two can msg.
Whatsapp is about contacts (i.e. phone contacts) rather than friends or followers. It means someone with your phone number can get access to info you set in Whatsapp unless you tweak the privacy settings. When you sign up, go to the Privacy tab and go through the “Who can see my personal info” section to make sure it suits your preferences. I don’t like to show my picture to anyone who has messaged me unless I’ve saved them as a contact, for example.
The other quirk is “auto-download” I think turned on by default, which means images etc. that get sent to you get saved to your phone. If you’re just swapping memes it can clog things up. Have a play and see what works for you.
It’s basically another Facebook Messenger app. It was its own app until 2016/2017 sometime when Facebook bought it. Your contacts will be shared with Facebook. For all of that, it’s a decent messenger.
I don’t personally use it any more because I hate all things Facebook.
If only my family weren’t so attached I’d be gone from there as well lol 😭
I went with Telegram, which functionally at least was pretty identical to WhatsApp back when I had both apps.
Telegram has a bunch of other stuff these days (channels etc); I still only use it for chatting with family and friends. I had leverage over my family: I was in Melbourne and the single source on the Internet of grandchildren photos was Telegram. So they all signed up to it. 😃
Signal?
Signal didn’t exist 10 years ago when this all happened. Encryption is nice and all, but kid photos aren’t exactly state secrets and the user experience of Telegram is 10x better than Signal.
I have both apps, but nobody I know uses Signal.
Literally the same situation my side, but I still primarily use WhatsApp as Meta can’t share/use my data and businesses cannot communicate with me due to me still declining the updated terms, they were supposed to reduce functionality for people like me but I’m guessing the list is now too small to invest the effort in to implementing.
Even getting family on to Telegram was impossible so completely understand about just using it for normal person stuff is already a hard sell. Signal is solely for some of my tech friends who really want privacy, but don’t actually need it as it’s just banter, nothing that couldn’t be said in public :/
Annoying having all three installed, but at least I don’t have FB messenger!
no fb 🚫
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Yo, my family all use it so know that you don’t need to accept the bacefook Ts&Cs if you have used it before the sellout, regardless of device change.
I’m defo on a list.
You add people by their phone number. Just ignore any contacts from anyone who isn’t your friend and only add them
Its owned by Facebook, so its a no from me dawg