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Different apps with different code bases and reasons to exist. Messenger is more of a chat platform tied to personal Facebook accounts, Whatsapp is more of a universal phone number based chatting platform. They can and should coexist imo.
Splintering messaging into so many different channels isn't benefitting consumers. I have zero interest in having SMS/iMessage, WhatsApp, FB Messenger, Snapchat, etc all as messaging channels. That's just annoying, not better.

The nice thing about iMessage is that it's not a separate channel from a UI/UX standpoint. It's the reason it's acceptable.

Love this. The only thing I like about iMessage is reactions.
Well, and the fact that it's not associated with Meta in any way, shape, or form.
Tell me you're not a software developer without telling me you're not a software developer.
It's really not that hard, and it's what should happen. The reason they're not integrated isn't a technical one; it's a business reason.
 
But, yeah, if someone releases software that requires back-end servers to make it work (where the servers and maintenance and electricity and internet bandwidth are ongoing costs), I want to know what their funding model is before I use that software.

I'm more comfortable using Apple's Messages, where their funding model is quite clear (they charge a lot up front and also offer paid services like iCloud) than using FaceBook's Messenger (which they let everybody use "for free").
100% agree with this sentiment.

Often see people saying that if a product/service is free, you are the product. I find the sentiment you mentioned to be more moderate and realistic that the funding model of a company needs to be understood first before making blanket statements like that.

FOSS is a prime example of things being free yet not making the end-user the product.
 
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It's really not that hard, and it's what should happen. The reason they're not integrated isn't a technical one; it's a business reason.
Let me ask you, are you a software engineer? Even further, have you ever worked at a company that has over 2 billion monthly active users? You’re talking out of your ass with a false sense of confidence. You really think they didn’t weigh the technical perspective while justifying this business decision? Porting a feature from one completely different, massive system to another has a huge time (send therefore financial) cost.
 
Tell me exactly how Meta uses its users as a product.

Is that actually a legit question?

If you actually were asking that in earnest, every last bit of your information that Meta has is sold to advertisers. Social media activity feeds marketing on a massive scale. It all cross-pollinates between their subdivisions. Stuff you look at on Instagram will influence the ads you see on Facebook; things you discuss on WhatsApp/people you talk to will influence ads on any of their other platforms for all parties involved.

Hell, have you never realized that any of those "ten year challenges" memes where everybody shares how they looked a decade ago vs now is feeding AI facial recognition/machine learning on human aging? I'm pretty sure Facebook can break it all down based on thousands of points of criteria - does this person smoke? What brands do they purchase (your transactions are all shared at a deep level ultimately), do they drink frequently (photos with liquor), etc.
 
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Is that actually a legit question?

If you actually were asking that in earnest, every last bit of your information that Meta has is sold to advertisers. Social media activity feeds marketing on a massive scale. It all cross-pollinates between their subdivisions. Stuff you look at on Instagram will influence the ads you see on Facebook; things you discuss on WhatsApp/people you talk to will influence ads on any of their other platforms for all parties involved.

Hell, have you never realized that any of those "ten year challenges" memes where everybody shares how they looked a decade ago vs now is feeding AI facial recognition/machine learning on human aging? I'm pretty sure Facebook can break it all down based on thousands of points of criteria - does this person smoke? What brands do they purchase (your transactions are all shared at a deep level ultimately), do they drink frequently (photos with liquor), etc.
You have no clue what you’re talking about. Show me proof that Meta sells data to its advertisers and that WhatsApp messages are read and used for advertising.
 
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You have no clue what you’re talking about. Show me proof that Meta sells data to its advertisers and that WhatsApp messages are read and used for advertising.

How exactly do you think Facebook/Meta makes money? Good feelings? Likes/thumbs up? Meta is exactly like Google, like any other service you access for free on a daily basis; their revenue is pretty much all from advertisements.

There's literally a setting in Facebook where you can tell it to deliver less personalized ads, but it's all still cross-linked to some degree with other services all the time. Have you never seen related Amazon ads in FB to what you've recently purchased?

It's been proven that while Facebook isn't audibly listening to you via mic, it gathers data in plenty of other ways, often extremely voluntarily. People use their Facebook to log into other sites/services all the time for convenience.


Are you that new to the internet? NOTHING that is free is actually free.
 
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How exactly do you think Facebook/Meta makes money? Good feelings? Likes/thumbs up? Meta is exactly like Google, like any other service you access for free on a daily basis; their revenue is pretty much all from advertisements.

There's literally a setting in Facebook where you can tell it to deliver less personalized ads, but it's all still cross-linked to some degree with other services all the time. Have you never seen related Amazon ads in FB to what you've recently purchased?

It's been proven that while Facebook isn't audibly listening to you via mic, it gathers data in plenty of other ways, often extremely voluntarily. People use their Facebook to log into other sites/services all the time for convenience.


Are you that new to the internet? NOTHING that is free is actually free.
For someone who lives in Silicon Valley, you’re surprisingly illiterate on how advertising works.

Once again, show me proof that the data Facebook collects of its users is sold to advertisers. Also show me proof that WhatsApp messages can be read and are used for advertising.
 
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I don't get how Messenger and WhatsApp are the same company and they can't with ease just copy a feature from one app to the other with ease - or better yet, unify the apps so it's just one platform and works and put all the development into that so it works rather than release simple features after years...
I would like to just assume Meta as just their ownership assertion afterall. It’s like franchise company operation; just share the same name but each one of them got their very own privilege respectively.
 
I don’t use iMessage so I’m not sure how it’s implemented there but WhatsApp does have individual read receipts too. Just long press a message and click info.
I think that user actually mean to say about option to control chat read receipts individually
 
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