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WhatsApp has updated its terms of service and privacy policy to reflect that it will begin sharing select data with Facebook, including the phone number a user verifies during the registration process and the last time a user accessed the service. Facebook, which acquired WhatsApp in 2014, will use the information to provide better friend suggestions and targeted ads and offers to users of its own service.

WhatsApp_facebook.jpg
By coordinating more with Facebook, we'll be able to do things like track basic metrics about how often people use our services and better fight spam on WhatsApp. And by connecting your phone number with Facebook's systems, Facebook can offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads if you have an account with them. For example, you might see an ad from a company you already work with, rather than one from someone you've never heard of.
WhatsApp ensures that nothing users share on the service, including messages, photos, and account information, will be publicly shared onto Facebook for others to see. The updated terms and privacy policy also state that the new data sharing measures will help WhatsApp more accurately count unique users, fight spam and abuse, and improve the overall experience of its messaging service.

Existing WhatsApp users can choose not to share their account information with Facebook. On the iPhone app, before you tap "Agree" to accept the updated terms, tap on "Read," scroll to the bottom, and toggle the control. Users that agree to the updated terms also have an additional 30 days to opt out by going to Settings > Account > Share My Account Info and toggling the appropriate control in the app.

WhatsApp remains committed to providing private communications. All messages sent through the service are not stored on its servers, and end-to-end encryption has been in place since April on the latest version of the app. The updated terms and privacy policy do not affect these security measures.

In a new FAQ about its updated terms and privacy policy, WhatsApp says it will still not allow third-party banner ads on the service.

WhatsApp is free on the App Store [Direct Link] for iPhone.

Article Link: WhatsApp to Share User Data With Facebook to Show Targeted Ads
 

peterdevries

macrumors 68040
Feb 22, 2008
3,146
1,135
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Switch to Telegram, people. Tell your friends to do the same.

WhatsApp is crap.
Whatsapp might be crap (which in terms of functionality I disagree with), but it is used more widely than Telegram. It would be quite an undertaking requesting my entire 1st and 2nd degree friend groups and all colleagues to switch to another app.
 

yanki01

macrumors 68040
Feb 28, 2009
3,625
1,766
what is WhatsApp? doesn't everyone have unlimited text messages by now?

besides the less i have to deal with FB the better. can't stand seeing crap from 3 days ago when it didn't show me then.
 

Return Zero

macrumors 65816
Oct 2, 2013
1,302
3,717
Kentucky
I've never used WhatsApp, and never will.

I've deleted my facebook account three times. I only still have an account to communicate with a few groups, as well as to keep access to any pictures of me that people post (would be weird not to have access to that). Also, I only use facebook in mobile safari. The app is the some of the worst software garbage I've ever experienced.

I will be so happy if and when facebook goes away.
 

enrincon89

macrumors regular
Apr 30, 2014
127
46
what is WhatsApp? doesn't everyone have unlimited text messages by now?
WhatsApp is a messaging app that uses your phone number instead of creating an username and password. It's cross platform. You can make calls and send messages to other people in other countries. Is mostly used in Latin America and Europe.
 

hobspain

macrumors regular
Mar 29, 2010
127
116
Switch to Telegram, people. Tell your friends to do the same.

WhatsApp is crap.

No it's not. It can handle hundreds of millions of users in a snap, lets you make calls with people thousands of miles away with better quality than regular fixed line and now has end-to-end encryption which is what made Telegram go mainstream back then. Best of all: in my contacts 350 people have Whatsapp. Less than 50 in Telegram and I am including bots. In Europe Whatsapp has really no competition.
 

wolfshades

macrumors 6502
Nov 1, 2007
485
625
Toronto, Ontario Canada
After being on Facebook for so many years…and after creating groups and being immersed in it for so long, I finally deleted my account (as much as that's possible) about a month ago. This news is just one more reason to stay away from it for good.

The Facebook universe has a lot of good going for it, and is useful and even helpful. But at the end of the day it's free, which as others have repeatedly said, just means the consumer is the product. Every so often (like now, with WhatsApp), someone pulls back the curtain and we get to see what it's really about.
 
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