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WhatsApp for iOS Gains Group Calling for Voice and Video

verpeiler said:
Quite simple, many people aren't (or weren't) on Facebook when WhatsApp reached it's critical mass (which is essential to even have a chance as a "platform"). Since you can use it with just a phone number and nothing else it is easy to set up and just works.
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Exactly, the whole point of WhatsApp and why the founders made it is there were billions of people with nothing but overpriced SMS, and they were all used to using phones. They did everything right.
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69Mustang said:
I think you misunderstood my question to szw-mapple fan. I know what both apps are and who their primary audiences are. My question was why would someone not see the point of Whatsapp. As you pointed out, they cater to different audiences through different means. FBM is the #1 messenger app in the US and WhatsApp is the #1 in the world. As to advantage... they're both monstrous so I don't think it matters that much.
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Well if everyone were starting fresh now, WhatsApp is pointless. It's a good service but is just worse than FB Messenger.
 
fairuz said:
Well if everyone were starting fresh now, WhatsApp is pointless. It's a good service but is just worse than FB Messenger.
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It’s a good cross platform alternative for people without a Facebook account and also for people who need to communicate with others who aren’t on their Facebook.
 
Have WhatsApp for the past 4 years, I think I got one txt on it. Have FB Messenger and I get only stupid jokes and FB friends on it who don't know my number. Everything is iMessenger for me. Yes, I'm in the U.S. Keep waiting for WhatsApp to take off in the U.S. but I don't see it. Thinking about deleting WhatsApp since I have FB Messenger (Kind of redundant) but iMessage is king for me.
 
by the developers of facebook. people still dare to use this app? guess they dont care about their privacy at all. now they have your face in their database
 
Sandstorm said:
And still no official WhatsApp iPad app :(
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That's because it's tied to your mobile number, which the iPad doesn't have. You can use the web version on the iPad.
fairuz said:
Well if everyone were starting fresh now, WhatsApp is pointless. It's a good service but is just worse than FB Messenger.
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Your point of view is skewed by your location. If you're in one of the 100+ countries where WhatsApp dominates, it's FB Messenger that is pointless. This new WhatsApp group calling feature just made Skype and many conference calling services pointless for many applications.
expiredyogurt said:
by the developers of facebook. people still dare to use this app? guess they dont care about their privacy at all. now they have your face in their database
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Facebook didn't develop WhatsApp; they bought it. And not everyone who uses WhatsApp uses Facebook.
 
GGJstudios said:
Your point of view is skewed by your location. If you're in one of the 100+ countries where WhatsApp dominates, it's FB Messenger that is pointless. This new WhatsApp group calling feature just made Skype and many conference calling services pointless for many applications.
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That's why I said "if everyone were starting fresh." I know people use WhatsApp mainly because their friends do.
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akash.nu said:
It’s a good cross platform alternative for people without a Facebook account and also for people who need to communicate with others who aren’t on their Facebook.
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You can message non-FB contacts on FB Messenger, and there's no reason to not make a FB account.
 
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GGJstudios said:
That's because it's tied to your mobile number, which the iPad doesn't have. You can use the web version on the iPad.
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Tied to a mobile number is not an issue as you mentioned the web version works without the need of any phone number. As long as the WhatsApp server can verify which number the account is registered to, it should be able to provide access. They can potentially use exactly the same method of authentication as they do on web but for an iPad app. I think they’re not interested in an iPad app purely because of the user base and the numbers against the smartphones.
 
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fairuz said:
You can message non-FB contacts on FB Messenger, and there's no reason to not make a FB account.
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The reason many have for not making a FB account is they don't want their personal details on FB. Using FB Messenger for non-FB contacts defeats that purpose. If the purpose is solely to call and text people in any of those 100+ countries, there is no need to use FB Messenger or create a Facebook account. WhatsApp is a far more useful solution, that doesn't require participation in the Facebook ecosystem.
 
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GGJstudios said:
The reason many have for not making a FB account is they don't want their personal details on FB. Using FB Messenger for non-FB contacts defeats that purpose. If the purpose is solely to call and text people in any of those 100+ countries, there is no need to use FB Messenger or create a Facebook account. WhatsApp is a far more useful solution, that doesn't require participation in the Facebook ecosystem.
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Although now that the WhatsApp founder has left the company, I’m not too sure what Facebook is doing with all the data they can harness from WhatsApp. That’s like wealth of personal info about anyone. Genuinely I do not want to use WhatsApp anymore.

https://www.theverge.com/platform/a...app-jan-koum-facebook-data-privacy-encryption
 
GGJstudios said:
The reason many have for not making a FB account is they don't want their personal details on FB. Using FB Messenger for non-FB contacts defeats that purpose. If the purpose is solely to call and text people in any of those 100+ countries, there is no need to use FB Messenger or create a Facebook account. WhatsApp is a far more useful solution, that doesn't require participation in the Facebook ecosystem.
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You don't have to put any personal details at all on FB. Though it's a good idea to put your real name by itself so people can easily find you. The reason to have that account instead of a phone number is phone numbers are hard to remember and change when you change phones.

BTW, Facebook owns WhatsApp now, so you're in the ecosystem anyway when you sign up to that. Worse, you give them your real phone number.
 
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fairuz said:
You don't have to put any personal details at all on FB. Though it's a good idea to put your real name by itself so people can easily find you.
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That's assuming you want people to find you. Again, many choose not to create FB profiles because they don't want their info viewable by the general public. Like many, I use WhatsApp, but I don't use Facebook or FB Messenger. My info is only viewable by those I directly share it with.
fairuz said:
The reason to have that account instead of a phone number is phone numbers are hard to remember and change when you change phones.
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When you change numbers, you don't have to change it in WhatsApp. You can keep your WhatsApp account associated with the original number. I do this when I travel internationally and get SIM cards for temporary use in various countries. I can keep my WhatsApp associated with the number that I create the account with, regardless of what mobile number I currently have.
fairuz said:
BTW, Facebook owns WhatsApp now, so you're in the ecosystem anyway when you sign up to that. Worse, you give them your real phone number.
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Yes, I know Facebook owns WhatsApp, but at least so far, they have operated it separately, outside the Facebook ecosystem. Only time will tell if it remains that way. When you give WhatsApp your number, it doesn't automatically share that information with Facebook.
 
GGJstudios said:
That's assuming you want people to find you. Again, many choose not to create FB profiles because they don't want their info viewable by the general public. Like many, I use WhatsApp, but I don't use Facebook or FB Messenger. My info is only viewable by those I directly share it with..
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A first and last name with no face doesn't mean anything, and plenty of places besides FB have that*. But if you don't want your full name on there, you don't even have to put that. Then you still get to find people who do put something identifying at least to their friends, which is most people since almost nobody is that concerned. It's so much easier to get connected than before when I was just using phone numbers.

* In fact I've made an account with my real first and last name but false information elsewhere to throw strangers off. Try looking yourself up on https://www.whitepages.com . Only reason for this concern is my friends were being blackmailed once.
Yes, I know Facebook owns WhatsApp, but at least so far, they have operated it separately, outside the Facebook ecosystem. Only time will tell if it remains that way. When you give WhatsApp your number, it doesn't automatically share that information with Facebook.
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It doesn't put it on a Facebook profile. It does share the info with the company Facebook.
 
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fairuz said:
A first and last name with no face doesn't mean anything,
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So what’s the point of having a FB profile, if you don’t want to share your info?
fairuz said:
It does share the info with the company Facebook.
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False. From WhatsApp Legal Info:
Nothing you share on WhatsApp, including your messages, photos, and account information, will be shared onto Facebook or any of our other family of apps for others to see, and nothing you post on those apps will be shared on WhatsApp for others to see.
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GGJstudios said:
So what’s the point of having a FB profile, if you don’t want to share your info?

False. From WhatsApp Legal Info:
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The point is you can use it to log into FB Messenger and most other sites requiring login, and you can very easily find your friends once you seed it with a few manually, since it then suggests more people with great accuracy. Likewise, your friends can easily find you if your fake name or photo gives a slight hint because you'll already be connected to many people they're connected to.

The site itself is not awful now that it's mainly used for groups and pages, neither of which requires a real identity. I've used groups for housing, buy/sell, and clubs. It's easy for strangers in groups to reach you on FB Messenger if you need them to.

The WhatsApp legal info you quoted says what I just said, that they don't publicize the phone number. Facebook is almost always explicit about what you're making public, the one exception being birthdate. The reason to fear putting data on either is if you don't trust the company.
 
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fairuz said:
The point is you can use it to log into FB Messenger and most other sites requiring login, and you can very easily find your friends once you seed it with a few manually, since it then suggests more people with great accuracy. Likewise, your friends can easily find you if your fake name or photo gives a slight hint because you'll already be connected to many people they're connected to.

The site itself is not awful now that it's mainly used for groups and pages, neither of which requires a real identity. I've used groups for housing, buy/sell, and clubs. It's easy for strangers in groups to reach you on FB Messenger if you need them to.
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So in other words, there is no reason to have a Facebook profile if your only objective is to have a messaging app like WhatsApp, which allows me to select who I choose to connect and communicate with, and doesn’t reveal anything to the public.
 
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GGJstudios said:
So in other words, there is no reason to have a Facebook profile if your only objective is to have a messaging app like WhatsApp, which allows me to select who I choose to connect and communicate with, and doesn’t reveal anything to the public.
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You need to have people to message in a messaging app. WhatsApp makes that harder even to contact people you know. You're having to go ask around for phone numbers, right?
 
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fairuz said:
You need to have people to message in a messaging app. WhatsApp makes that harder even to contact people you know. You're having to go ask around for phone numbers, right?
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If it’s someone I know or directly contact, I’ll have their number. I have numbers or email addresses for everyone I need or want to contact.
 
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fairuz said:
You need to have people to message in a messaging app. WhatsApp makes that harder even to contact people you know. You're having to go ask around for phone numbers, right?
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If your friends are in your contact list and are on WhatsApp, WhatsApp will show them in the app.
 
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