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WhatsApp Now Supports 32-Person Video Chats, Communities Feature Goes Global

JosephAW said:
People still use that? :rolleyes:
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Outside of the US, WhatsApp is (sadly) the de-facto standard messenger... I live in France and even if I prefer to use iMessage as my main tool (because all my family has iPhone anyway, and I'm trusting more Apple than Meta to be my messenger ecosystem), I need to have WhatsApp for basically Android people.

In US, you have the "green bubble" controversy where it excludes Android user from iOS conversation, but here in Europe it's much "WhatsApp is available anywhere, so let's use that". But I really hate Meta, and so WhatsApp :/.

And as it became the de-facto standard, now it's everywhere. During COVID, some Government school platform was so tedious that professor used WhatsApp or Discord. Some markets permits you to require a new cashier to open if there is to much queue by asking it to a bot on WhatsApp, with a QR Code tied to the roof. Some ads said "scan this QR in WhatsApp to have more information" on TV.

It's why even if I don't believe in RCS and its forcing adoption by Google and EU, I'm beginning to think it's not so much a bad idea. At least at term, I will only use iMessage, have all iMessage capacity between Apple users, and just a fallback to RCS if I need to talk with WhatsApp users, as WhatsApp is required to have a RCS gateway too.

I just expect it will be implemented well because I fear that it welcomes more spams, as iMessage is pretty safe and WhatsApp is pretty flooded by spambots.
 
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Where is that update? There is no such update on the iOS App Store.

The latest version is still 22.21.77, which was released two weeks ago.
 
Everybody cries for an iPad app for years, WhatsApp responds with more people on chat.

I'll say this again if you're reading devs, bring out an iPad please (brace for impact for up to 64 person chats as a response!) 😆
 
contacos said:
Point for WhatsApp then. Even their backup is end to end encrypted now
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Don't bother arguing about that in here, they will hate on WhatsApp for no reason. The reality is WhatsApp is superior to iMessage in too many ways: cross-platform, secure, easy to use yet feature rich. iMessage is clunky, you need several steps for something that WhatsApp does on a swipe.

Another one is iCloud, easily the worst cloud service available, I use it only because it connects well with my Mac, iPad, and iPhone, but other than that it loses on pretty much every category. These are things that the average MacRumors user have trouble accepting.
 
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Whilst that is a useful feature, it’s going to be pointless for most people who use WhatsApp until they bring the iPad version out. Even on my iPhone 13 Pro Max that’s going to be a very crowded screen. Most people don’t use the app on their computers (I suspect because as I have found many don’t know it exists)
 
the average understand that your are the product of meta. some of us won't be and use signal. not a big deal, just download it and use both if you don't care to feed your meta data to meta.
 
contacos said:
Are iCloud Messages even encrypted? I thought Apple has a key for iCloud backup.

—-

I still need WhatsApp since it’s simply more feature rich then iMessage and the storage management of iMessage drives me up the wall but I still continue to give it a chance. iMessage still has a long way to go and I don’t care about Memoji. First think I turned off
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Yes - iCloud messages are encrypted E2E.

What Apple has keys for are iCloud backups, which can include messages. So if you don't use iCloud backups, you're fine. If you do use iCloud backups and exclude messages from backups, you're fine. If you use iCloud backups and include messages, then they can be decrypted by Apple.

I don't use iCloud backups. I have my own in house.
 
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Kazgarth said:
At least it has E2E encryption for both the chat and it's backup as well.
No one else hold the keys but you.
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Are you sure? I wouldn't be. Zuck must be able to mine your data to sell you more ads afterall.
 
JosephAW said:
People still use that? :rolleyes:
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Yes, as there are about 2x more people who use WhatsApp compared to iMessage. Part of this is Apple's fault since they won't release an Android version, thinking that iMessage is some killer must-have app that will get Android users all across the world to get an iPhone.
 
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sw1tcher said:
Yes, as there are about 2x more people who use WhatsApp compared to iMessage. Part of this is Apple's fault since they won't release an Android version, thinking that iMessage is some killer must-have app that will get Android users all across the world to get an iPhone.
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It also depends on Apple's market share.
iPhones have started to become a but more popular in Italy, however within a social group 15% max have iPhones, therefore third party apps are a necessary common ground; that said I'd strongly prefer if people used signal rather than whatsapp or Telegram, but they're hard to convince.
Appartently they love to feed the ZUCC with that sweet sweet data.
 
I’m with those who are asking (again) for an iPad app. That being said, I’ve found good success using Whatsapp web in Firefox + Stage Manager. I can leave a persistent WhatsApp FF window in a corner where i can see it, while working on other apps. Not perfect and still no notifications (good thing my watch pings), but a massive step forward for me as I use WhatsApp all day for different projects. Would still love a dedicated app, though…
 
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FitzZic said:
It's why even if I don't believe in RCS and its forcing adoption by Google and EU, I'm beginning to think it's not so much a bad idea. At least at term, I will only use iMessage, have all iMessage capacity between Apple users, and just a fallback to RCS if I need to talk with WhatsApp users, as WhatsApp is required to have a RCS gateway too.
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“Something that works between platforms” is not so much a bad idea. RCS is decidedly a bad idea. So much so that the GSMA that created it is no longer interested in it. I don’t know if the GSMA is working on anything better, but as “better” already exists in the form of IP chat solutions, it’s a very good chance that they’re not.
 
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Leon Ze Professional said:
Don't touch Metaverse products with a barge pole if you value any kind of privacy.
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Many don’t have a choice. In the country where I live, it is the de facto standard. All social, work, and education groups are on WhatsApp. I wish this wasn’t the case, but the end result means there’s no avoiding WhatsApp here.
 
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incoherent_1 said:
Many don’t have a choice. In the country where I live, it is the de facto standard. All social, work, and education groups are on WhatsApp. I wish this wasn’t the case, but the end result means there’s no avoiding WhatsApp here.
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All you mention is so very true. But on top of that, the concept of privacy in chatting and social media is truly a fantasy, whether the service is provided by Apple, Meta or Signal.
 
incoherent_1 said:
Many don’t have a choice. In the country where I live, it is the de facto standard. All social, work, and education groups are on WhatsApp. I wish this wasn’t the case, but the end result means there’s no avoiding WhatsApp here.
Click to expand...

Same in my country, it's used by 99% of smartphone owners. Even some companies won't hire you if you don't have WA.
 
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