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This is basically where we are now , you text a friend about a new car you saw on the highway in a messaging app , 5 min goes by and you are bombarded with Car commercials in every online interaction you have for the foreseeable future , disgusting.
WhatsApp has end to end encryption. Facebook can't see your messages.
 
I wish Apple would release iMessage as a cross platform messaging app. I'm using four messaging apps regularly now because my contacts have split between the different apps.
Yeah, Apple should've released an SMS app with support for iMessage for Android. Seems like the time is ripe with the many privacy issues that are being exposed. Heck, Apple can even make some money by charging something inexpensive for the stickers/animated effects. Even 1% of Android users is a huge number.
 
Why are people still sticking with this cancer?
When practically most of the businesses and even your government use that platform, you kinda have to. In my country, everybody has, and are expected to have Whatsapp. Whenever I meet someone new, the first question for contact is for a whatsapp number. Even the delivery couriers would contact you via whatsapp, and many e-commerce even use whatsapp for their OTPs.
 
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Facebook should never have been allowed to buy Whatsapp. For many, it's now literally impossible to truly break free from Facebook. I hate that f----g site with a passion. It had a brief moment of supplying value by "connecting" long lost friends 15 years ago, but now its just worthless, evil and detrimental to people's mental health.
That is why I started using it. To connect to family and friends way back when. I live out west and all my family was/is in the southeast. Sometime and not sure when, Facebook morphed into a beast. I avoid it the best I can but there are things I still like and since I was diagnosed with terminal cancer I have found that Facebook has a support group for the type of cancer I have so that is a plus.
 
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I really don't see why people just don't send ordinary text messages using the telephone numbers of their friends.
Because the features of things like WhatsApp, Signal, and Telegram are very useful? Like, inline replies, group chats, delete messages after sending, encryption, sending media using data plan/WiFi, audio messages, text styling.... etc etc.
 
What I don’t understand is; why doesn’t Apple bring iMessage to android? They want their users to be as private as possible, but not allowing this stuff on other platforms just means you’re going to be having your data sold to the highest bidder anyway. I got rid of Facebook 2 years ago and haven’t looked back, but since the majority of my friends and family either don’t have iPhones or all use WhatsApp, I’m still forced to use it.

I get there are apps like signal, but I’m pretty sure most users would prefer to use iMessage as they trust Apple with their data a lot more than pretty much most companies, me included.

Also, if Facebook are going to sell your data using business chat, it’s only a matter of time before they start doing the same with everything else on the platform, ruining any value WhatsApp has in the first place. Aren’t they also trying to integrate messenger as well? Surely if that happens, your data is as good as public.
 
The biggest opportunity ever for Apple to release iMessage cross-platform that may not happen again - they would really have some pull here but instead they are focusing their efforts on shunning developers who bought the Mac Mini DTKs.

Come on Apple, capitalize on the time and release iMessage web and Android - forget developing a keychain for Chrome.
 
In my experience you don't choose a messaging platform, your friends do. If 100% of the people you know use Messenger, then you will use Messenger whether you like it or not. You can be the only one on some privacy-focused platform that no one else uses but you'll have no one to talk to.
 
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Facebook should never have been allowed to buy Whatsapp. For many, it's now literally impossible to truly break free from Facebook. I hate that f----g site with a passion. It had a brief moment of supplying value by "connecting" long lost friends 15 years ago, but now its just worthless, evil and detrimental to people's mental health.

Facebook is what you make of it. If you filter out the content like politics and news aspect of it then it’s still a useful tool for staying in touch with friends and family. I quite enjoy seeing what some of my friends have been up to from afar but wouldn’t ring them up randomly for a conversation. My feed is just what I want to see and I never understand why people don’t customise it. It’s like saying ‘all the people I follow on Twitter post boring content’. It’s very easy to rectify. Then again I’m not interested in convincing anybody I don’t know as it really doesn’t matter.
 
When practically most of the businesses and even your government use that platform, you kinda have to. In my country, everybody has, and are expected to have Whatsapp. Whenever I meet someone new, the first question for contact is for a whatsapp number. Even the delivery couriers would contact you via whatsapp, and many e-commerce even use whatsapp for their OTPs.
Exactly why Failbook is preying on said users.
Everyone needs to pack up and give them the middle finger.
 
Please note that this new privacy policy does not apply in the EU, as it's against GDPR to share data between Facebook and WhatsApp.
Correct. Problem is Facebook has a history of not exactly obeying rules. And they have been caught not just once claiming this while really doing that.

I do not believe one second that they obey that legislation
 
This max exodus away from WhatsApp I am assuming is in the US? I haven’t heard of anybody in my circles discussing this or suggesting not using WhatsApp anymore. I’ve only seen this topic being discussed on Mac Rumours to be fair .
I only used whatsapp with my extended family in the Netherlands... well over 80 people. They've all recently ditched whatsapp and we're all on Signal now. For my friends in Asia it's only WeChat. And in the US, only iMessage. So glad to no longer be affiliated with anything Facebook....
 
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I wish Apple would release iMessage as a cross platform messaging app. I'm using four messaging apps regularly now because my contacts have split between the different apps.
It can be a blassing in disguise to be honest. I have some really terrible relative and friends that I'd rather not have to deal with. I just told them I don't have so and so app and I won't/refuse to install them. If really want to talk to me talk to me on my own term.

So far, the only chat app that is truly crossplatform (mobile, computer and multiple computer) is Discord. Everything else just kind of has their own issues. Whatsapp is not bad on Mac, but I can only use it on one machine at a time, not sure if it's my own issue.
 
So far, the only chat app that is truly crossplatform (mobile, computer and multiple computer) is Discord. Everything else just kind of has their own issues. Whatsapp is not bad on Mac, but I can only use it on one machine at a time, not sure if it's my own issue.

I have Telegram on multiple computers and OS’s, Discord isn’t the only one that is truly cross platform.
 
I only used whatsapp with my extended family in the Netherlands... well over 80 people. They've all recently ditched whatsapp and we're all on Signal now. For my friends in Asia it's only WeChat. And in the US, only iMessage. So glad to no longer be affiliated with anything Facebook....
A lot of my colleagues are from Holland but we still use WhatsApp. Same for the guys I text in Sweden too. I have Signal installed but have very few contacts on it yet. I think unless the media help convince people to drop WhatsApp, it’ll be a long while before people migrate over. I haven’t got any issue with WhatsApp personally as I don’t contact companies or make purchases through it.
 
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Time to get better friends. Inform them that you will gradually begin crippling your access to messaging etc. outside of iMessage and on point X, you will be completely cut off outside of iMessage. Those that really care about you will want to remain in contact and make the effort to do so. Sadly a lot of people in our life are nothing more than empty mouthpieces that will only act when it is convenient and following the herd.
Wow. Lose friends because of a messaging app
 
I live in France and within the country and Europe I only use iMessage. The only reason I have Signal & Telegram is to communicate with friends anywhere else because SMS messages are not included in my phone subscription in other countries and are sent as such if the other person is not on WiFi or not reachable when I send a message. I ditched everything touching Facebook and will not look back.
 
I guess you have to admire Facebook in a way. They figured out a way to make literally everyone a "customer", whether they consent or not, whether they pay or not, whether they actually directly interact with Facebook or not. (shadow profiles and tracking) They don't have to answer to the users of Facebook (and they especially don't have to answer to shadow profiles), because we aren't the actual customers - the customers are the data miners, ad agencies, etc. Even people deleting WhatsApp or even Facebook itself are not safe - more or less, if you continue to use the Internet, you're on their radar.

While I'm not usually a conspiracy theorist, Facebook has proven time and time and time and time again that the regular users are not their priority (other than how much money the data collected from those users can make the company). They've shown multiple times that they cannot be trusted. I don't blame anyone for being weary of the change, and their "we swear it's not what you think" approach seems akin to the abusive partner begging for another chance because "I didn't mean it and I won't do it again". And there's enough people out there who want the good times so badly (the services FB and company do offer to end users) that they're willing to overlook the bad times (privacy violation, data collection/harvesting/sale, etc.) no matter how abusive or wrong...
 
My kingdom to be able to migrate my colleagues over to telegram...
I've used it, and it's awful, would rather use nearly anything else. There's no way my family members would use it without feeling confused and frustrated.

Not like it's private or secure either. Signal is more trustworthy and has a nicer UI.
 
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