WhatsApp Testing Ability to Transfer Chats Between iOS and Android

[edgonzalez32]

Wasted effort as people will hopefully be moving to Signal once they enforce their new data sharing with FaceBook in early May.

In the US maybe. So many other countries are deep in WhatsApp. Guatemala for example, that is the go to messaging service. Whether it's a business you need to get in touch with or the person who owns the airbnb you renting out, WhatsApp is how you communicate.

Businesses have advertising with their WhatsApp number. It's not going anywhere.

 

[edgonzalez32]

It’s not just cheap Android crowd, in Europe people with iPhones use it as well, it became number one messaging app and it’s now unfortunately the default messaging app in Europe. I know people with iPhones who don’t even have iMessage turned on which sucks.

People who disagree with comments like this have clearly never traveled before.

WhatsApp is king is a majority of places. I spend a lot of time in guatemala. Nobody uses imessage or SMS. It's all WhatsApp. As soon as you get someone's number, you're communicating throughr WhatsApp.

 

[Okasian]

People who disagree with comments like this have clearly never traveled before.

WhatsApp is king is a majority of places. I spend a lot of time in guatemala. Nobody uses imessage or SMS. It's all WhatsApp. As soon as you get someone's number, you're communicating throughr WhatsApp.

In the UK, WhatsApp is a monolith. I tried to sway friends and family (A mix of iPhones and Androids, but mostly iPhones) over to Signal but that didn’t last long.

And I want to use iMessage more, but the network effect and pervasiveness of WhatsApp is too compelling for 97% of the population (outside this forum) to be more critical of mass aggregated data collection and targeted advertising.

I hope Apple will make iMessage cross-platform in the future because then I might actually be able to use it meaningfully.

 

[CarpalMac]

I spent months to convince my friends Telegram was much better to do the same. They store your stuff, the desktop app is better and doesn't depend on your phone, it works from any browser...

I have spent years, not just months. The thing is once they use it, they love it.

Thankfully Zuck keeps making WA more repulsive, the mass adoption of Telegram by my more "distant" friends earlier this year was incredible. Everyday I was getting notifications of old colleagues and friends I had lost touch joining Telegram.

Been a delight speaking regularly to so many people again, rather than just occasionally.

Thanks Zuck, you keep doing you.

 

[CJ Dorschel]

Is it testing the “ability” to transfer money from your checking account to zuckerber’s without you knowing it? 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[CJ Dorschel]

One thing iMessage does very well is multiple devices. It’s secure and persistent across Mac, iPad, iPhone. Apple should introduce it for android and PC so it kills WhatsApp for good

That was the original plan along with FaceTime. Then came the patent “infringement“…

 

[repoman016]

One thing iMessage does very well is multiple devices. It’s secure and persistent across Mac, iPad, iPhone. Apple should introduce it for android and PC so it kills WhatsApp for good

iMessage is like 80% of the reason i use a macbook over a windows laptop.

 

[velocityg4]

I'm surprised this service doesn't cloud sync between all your devices. That would be the only reason, for me, to use a third party messenger.

There's no reason why it couldn't be fully encrypted on the cloud either. As your account could be set up with an encryption key only you have possession of. Which also means the only way they could unlock it for you is to wipe and reset everything. So, don't lose your key.

 

[idmean]

A genuinely good idea, whatever you think of Facebook.

Posts about Facebook are becoming tiring to be honest, Apple can do no wrong and Facebook is Evil Inc.

It's almost visionary! I wonder how many hours they spent pondering until they finally came up with this! I mean, it's not like anyone else has done this before them. /s

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

What’s app? Never heard of her.

Hopefully you have never heard of FaceBook.

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

In the US maybe. So many other countries are deep in WhatsApp. Guatemala for example, that is the go to messaging service. Whether it's a business you need to get in touch with or the person who owns the airbnb you renting out, WhatsApp is how you communicate.

Businesses have advertising with their WhatsApp number. It's not going anywhere.

The only reason why I really care for WhatsApp is because for example, if you have a family member in the UK and your in the US, you don't have to pay to text internationally with WhatsApp. But if iMessages had that feature, iMessages would be better in some ways.

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

People who disagree with comments like this have clearly never traveled before.

WhatsApp is king is a majority of places. I spend a lot of time in guatemala. Nobody uses imessage or SMS. It's all WhatsApp. As soon as you get someone's number, you're communicating throughr WhatsApp.

That's not true. I have never traveled out of the United States but I know for a fact that is false. If you buy an iPhone lets say in Albert Canada and it's an XR. They have their own cell phone towers to communicate regularly through iMessages. But the only thing that's true on your part is if you bring an iPhone XR from New York to Toronto, then that will be a different story.

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

In the UK, WhatsApp is a monolith. I tried to sway friends and family (A mix of iPhones and Androids, but mostly iPhones) over to Signal but that didn’t last long.

And I want to use iMessage more, but the network effect and pervasiveness of WhatsApp is too compelling for 97% of the population (outside this forum) to be more critical of mass aggregated data collection and targeted advertising.

I hope Apple will make iMessage cross-platform in the future because then I might actually be able to use it meaningfully.

I agree. But in the present, it looks like we are going to have to use WhatsApp.

 

[macsareveryinteresting]

Is it and testing the “ability” to transfer money from your checking account to zuckerber’s without you knowing it? 🤷🏼‍♂️

I will never trust Mark Zuckerburg once in my whole entire life. I know for sure he is selling my information the millisecond I create my account on FaceBook. And even if he didn't sell your information when you use FaceBook, I still wouldn't use FaceBook and that includes TikTok. There is always Reddit and Twitter so I'm sticking with those apps.

 

[fb3993]

How about dual numbers and proper multidevice support?

 

[davcole]

One thing iMessage does very well is multiple devices. It’s secure and persistent across Mac, iPad, iPhone. Apple should introduce it for android and PC so it kills WhatsApp for good

That would definitely work! I'd get a subscription to have iMessage.

 

[subi257]

Now let me sign in to multiple devices please! Some people have more than one phone

I think some systems/companies would consider that a security vulnerability, but not completely sure.

 

[JosephAW]

Apple just needs to release iMessage for android and be done with this.

 

[d686546s]

That's not true. I have never traveled out of the United States but I know for a fact that is false. If you buy an iPhone lets say in Albert Canada and it's an XR. They have their own cell phone towers to communicate regularly through iMessages. But the only thing that's true on your part is if you bring an iPhone XR from New York to Toronto, then that will be a different story.

I think you misunderstand and you seem to be using "iMessage" broader than the messenger service provided by Apple. SMS is not iMessage.

First, you don't need to pay anything for iMessage regardless of whether it's to domestic or international numbers. You only pay if it reverts back to SMS or if you send SMS text messages in the first place. Blue bubble free, green bubble not.

Second, of course WhatsApp is not a network standard in the UK or in large parts of Latin America. It's just very very widespread. So widespread that the basic assumption is that you will contact other people and will be contacted by other people through WhatsApp. I've seen it myself in Ecuador, where businesses put the WhatsApp logo on their ads, rather than a generic phone or text symbol. Of course you can text them, but they may not reply.

It's not quite like that here in the UK, but friends and colleagues will automatically use WhatsApp rather than anything else to get in touch with me. The network standard is irrelevant.

 

[jlocker]

I love WhatsApp program, it is so easy to work with my parents, brother and sister Facebook portal video conferencing units. I use it every day for conversations and it is has been wonderful during the pandemic.

 

[alexandr]

I spent months to convince my friends Telegram was much better to do the same. They store your stuff, the desktop app is better and doesn't depend on your phone, it works from any browser...

well that's the problem - so many people of different age groups are on whatsapp — it's hard to convince them. tbh i don't even use telegram except with some people.

 

[alexandr]

silly me — i assumed this existed the entire time, just by logging in on a different(platform) device...

 

[velocityg4]

I think you misunderstand and you seem to be using "iMessage" broader than the messenger service provided by Apple. SMS is not iMessage.

First, you don't need to pay anything for iMessage regardless of whether it's to domestic or international numbers. You only pay if it reverts back to SMS or if you send SMS text messages in the first place. Blue bubble free, green bubble not.

Second, of course WhatsApp is not a network standard in the UK or in large parts of Latin America. It's just very very widespread. So widespread that the basic assumption is that you will contact other people and will be contacted by other people through WhatsApp. I've seen it myself in Ecuador, where businesses put the WhatsApp logo on their ads, rather than a generic phone or text symbol. Of course you can text them, but they may not reply.

It's not quite like that here in the UK, but friends and colleagues will automatically use WhatsApp rather than anything else to get in touch with me. The network standard is irrelevant.

Interesting. I've never had any customer. Actually not anyone I know. Ask if I have Whatsapp, ask what my contact info is for Whatsapp nor even mention it in any way shape or form. The only time I ever hear about it is some news article or mention on these forums.

Up until reading this thread. I just thought of it as some alternative text messenger kids used. Because regular texting wasn't cool enough anymore.

The only reason I spotted it and Telegram up in the app store. Was I was looking for some alternative to iMessage and they were the top hits. Something that offered the same syncing and SMS support. Yet allowed cross platform syncing between Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. Which none of them offered. So, I didn't see the point.

 

[d686546s]

Interesting. I've never had any customer. Actually not anyone I know. Ask if I have Whatsapp, ask what my contact info is for Whatsapp nor even mention it in any way shape or form. The only time I ever hear about it is some news article or mention on these forums.

Up until reading this thread. I just thought of it as some alternative text messenger kids used. Because regular texting wasn't cool enough anymore.

The only reason I spotted it and Telegram up in the app store. Was I was looking for some alternative to iMessage and they were the top hits. Something that offered the same syncing and SMS support. Yet allowed cross platform syncing between Windows, macOS, Android and iOS. Which none of them offered. So, I didn't see the point.

The reason why WhatsApp became so popular is in part because it is free, but also because it is so easy to use. You don't need special contact details as it's all done through your telephone number. As soon as someone in your contact list installs it they will show up in your contact list and vice versa. Signal is using the same approach.

I remember using iMessage quite a bit more after it was introduced, but very slowly WhatsApp became the dominant platform in the parts of Europe I know better. I still prefer iMessage, but even with friends and family who have iPhones the default often is WhatsApp because that's what people use. I've been pushing Signal lately because it's also available on Android, where it also works as an SMS app, but it's an uphill battle.

My wife's from Latin America and like I said it's even more extreme there, with WhatsApp often just being the standard.

Frankly, despite the rise of Signal and Telegram, I think it's unlikely that WhatsApp will lose its dominance anytime soon. The US may stick with iMessage and Asia has its own regional messengers, but Facebook/WhatsApp will be difficult to dethrone.

 

[bebarhood]

On my WhatsApp wishlist feature for more than a decade. I hope this includes images, videos, documents, etc.. And I hope it gets launched soon.