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[TheCochese]

This is the app's screenshot on the Whatsapp home page:

I mean, I guess it's not completely awful, but for a glamour shot, it's close to triggering my MSN PTSD. Contrast that to iMessage which is so much cleaner (even if Apple is doing it's best to clutter it up with animojis and crap.)

I threw up in my mouth a little.


And FUCK FB MESSENGER. I'm not installing yet another of your battery draining apps.

 

[jts]

That's a security thing, isn't it?

Is WhatsApp markedly more secure than other messaging platforms, including iMessage which is also encrypted?

Honestly I can still see the angle of security (there's more than one device people can try to get ahold off to steal your messages in the other services) but if you secure your devices, which I do, that's not a problem for me. It is a problem when I can't use the service on my computer because it's having a hard time pushing connectivity to the phone, or its battery died and I don't have a charger handy, etc.

 

[Souldriver]

I don't get it.

I communicate with a lot of iPhone owners while I have an android. Everyone has Whatsapp and/or Messenger. It's weird how the Apple ecosystem is seemingly this close (yet large), that non-apple users are excluded from daily conversations. I guess it's an American phenomena...?

 

[AstroNut325]

I went reverse. Android to iOS with a 6S. Couldn't be happier. iMessage is the goat. And yes I also use WhatsApp.

 

[ponpo]

Why are people still having this tired argument in 2017. If most Americans are using iMessage and only iMessage then let Americans lament the switch from iOS to Android.

Also obviously iMessage is easier because it is built in but I'm surprised to see how many people think it is too much trouble to download another app.

Spoiler

Line >>>>>>>>>> whatsapp >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> imessage ThoOoOOoO

 

[Your Entertainer]

10.3.2

Yeah, messaging adds that toolbar in iOS 11

 

[keuja]

I suggest using WhatsApp like the other 3 billions people on this planet.

 

[Spy]

this is another one of those weird americanisms

just like not using the metric system, insisting on everyone being allowed to own guns (even though the kill thousands every year), hating the very idea of universal healthcare, and refusing to ever in the history of ever raise any sorts of taxes

choosing not to use whatsapp is just one of those objectively stupid decisions that the americans made for who knows what reason

This is one of the strangest reasons I've read to dislike Americans, lol.

I also find it odd how people think it's weird to use SMS.

 

[Lothars]

Switched from Android to Apple last year and iMessage was the biggest game changer for me. After years of texting on Android it was like waking up from a bad dream.

Never touching Android again tbh, mostly cause of iMessage ��*♂️

I use Imessage with my work phone and when I was in the states traveling I had nothing but problems with anyone imessaging me iphone to iphone. It's really nothing special and nothing that can't be done on android.

This is true and I've seen it personally.

There is an option (that I believe isn't set by default) that has it auto switch to SMS if iMessage fails.

I ended up setting mine up to do so.

Yeah that's the biggest issue, it should be set on by default.

 

[OléGunner]

iMessage>Whatsapp tho

Someone at my job yesterday also told me that on their android phone they need to search online to find gifs while iMessage has them all built in. Just click the button to the left, hit the button that looks like the App Store icon and enter what you're looking for in the search bar and BOOM!

It's super simple.

Well shit I had to google this and found out that amazing feature is limited to a couple countries.
Booooo.

Edit: and yeah whatsapp is a got dam eye sore

 

[MThanded]

Doesnt everybody just use whatsapp

Almost everyone I know with an iPhone uses iMessages predominantly.

 

[Lasthope106]

iMessage IMO is one of the strongest reasons to own an iPhone. If you own other Apple products, it is extremely convenient having all the conversations. I've tried WhatsApp and facebook message, and use hangouts, but none of them are as intuitive or easy to use.

 

[Tigress]

I disabled iMessage ages ago, and use Facebook Messenger if I want to do dumb group chats.

I refuse to put anything facebook on my phone. Besides, some one already showed that Facebook listens in on you with that app even when you aren't using it.

Also, people suggesting other apps, OP specifically said there is no way he's convincing his family to download another app to do that (I sympathize, it would be the same with me... getting my parents to even text was a major accomplishment. No way would I get them to download some seperate app just to text).

 

[dantevsninjas]

What's wrong with just sending texts?

 

[borghe]

Is WhatsApp markedly more secure than other messaging platforms, including iMessage which is also encrypted?

Honestly I can still see the angle of security (there's more than one device people can try to get ahold off to steal your messages in the other services) but if you secure your devices, which I do, that's not a problem for me. It is a problem when I can't use the service on my computer because it's having a hard time pushing connectivity to the phone, or its battery died and I don't have a charger handy, etc.

whatsapp and imessage should share the same security. end to end encrypted with the keys existing on the devices. imessage in theory is slightly less secure as it is (or will be) backed up to icloud, but that backup is then encrypted with a key stored on the device as well.

so practically, they are just as secure.

What's wrong with just sending texts?

aside from being insanely limited (to text) and completely insecure? umm.. nothing I guess.

 

[M3d10n]

Why are people still having this tired argument in 2017. If most Americans are using iMessage and only iMessage then let Americans lament the switch from iOS to Android.

Also obviously iMessage is easier because it is built in but I'm surprised to see how many people think it is too much trouble to download another app.

Spoiler

Line >>>>>>>>>> whatsapp >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> imessage ThoOoOOoO

Yeah, people keep telling my the iOS App Store is a major selling point but at the same time iOS owners hate downloading apps.

 

[knitoe]

I suggest using WhatsApp like the other 3 billions people on this planet.

I probably had whatsapp installed before those 3 billions people and still mainly use iMessage. Once in awhile, I get a message on whatsapp.

 

[tbm24]

I have this exact problem. Switch to S8+ on launch, have missed iMessage ever since. Only a segment of my family is on WhatsApp, wife and friends are not and it's a real bummer. It's bad to the point where I use my work iPhone to iMessage these people just to not have a headache.

 

[ty_hot]

It feels like everybody has an iPhone in the USA. Wtf even if 80% of the people had iMessage, the other 20% would have android and, thus, would use whatsapp, Facebook messenger, viber or whatever. it amazes me how people say "all my friends and family have iphones". It just cant be real.

Also, its like installing whatsapp would take more than 10 seconds. And im sure they wouldnt install it for you only, but im sure there are many other people that are in the same situation. Its like there are 2 completely separate communities of people: lazy people with iphones and other people with android/wp/bb.

I have this exact problem. Switch to S8+ on launch, have missed iMessage ever since. Only a segment of my family is on WhatsApp, wife and friends are not and it's a real bummer. It's bad to the point where I use my work iPhone to iMessage these people just to not have a headache.

The day my wife cant install a fckn app to talk to me I am already signing the divorce papers.

 

[M3d10n]

whatsapp and imessage should share the same security. end to end encrypted with the keys existing on the devices. imessage in theory is slightly less secure as it is (or will be) backed up to icloud, but that backup is then encrypted with a key stored on the device as well.

so practically, they are just as secure.

Except, of course, if one of your contacts is a dirty Android peasant, in which case the messages will be sent and received via plain SMS text.

 

[rambis]

Whatsapp is the best one and what most people use.

 

[Spy]

It feels like everybody has an iPhone in the USA. Wtf even if 80% of the people had iMessage, the other 20% would have android and, thus, would use whatsapp, Facebook messenger, viber or whatever. it amazes me how people say "all my friends and family have iphones". It just cant be real.

Also, its like installing whatsapp would take more than 10 seconds. And im sure they wouldnt install it for you only, but im sure there are many other people that are in the same situation. Its like there are 2 completely separate communities of people: lazy people with iphones and other people with android/wp/bb.

To those 20% who don't have iMessage, what's wrong with SMS? I don't get it.

 

[neoemonk]

Tried to send a gif I made from a video and it was too big for mms. So I had to send it to them on Facebook messenger

Which has been an ok stop gap I guess

I feel so old right now

 

[thiscoldblack]

People use iMessage??

You missed quite a lot of posts saying otherwise.

 

[Takamura-San]

Why? What can you not do in Android that you can in imessage?

Have a desktop app without having to pay, and/or use a third party app.

Universal app that does SMS, and data based messaging without having to pester people to download an app.

This has been my single most annoying thing since moving to Android.

 

[ISee]

Maybe he's using some phone makers default keyboard but official Google stuff has had gifs for a while now.

Yeah, switching from Samsung Keyboard to Gboard felt amazing.

 

[Dalek]

Guys, you can keep beating this drum til you're blue in the face. It's not going to happen. That ship has sailed in the US. Move on.

 

[jts]

whatsapp and imessage should share the same security. end to end encrypted with the keys existing on the devices. imessage in theory is slightly less secure as it is (or will be) backed up to icloud, but that backup is then encrypted with a key stored on the device as well.

so practically, they are just as secure.

Whatsapp is also backed up to the cloud these days. To iCloud on the iPhone at least.

I was more talking about a physical point of view where there are more points of entry to someone get real access of one of your devices. Lets say a laptop or iPad left running in the library unlocked. While in Whatsapp, you kill the phone, you kill all. And you can very quickly cancel access to all whatsapp web devices too. It's far fetched but I can see how that angle can be pushed.

 

[Spy]

I feel so old right now

You and me both. I don't have any form of social media nor am I the type of person who feels the need to send others GIF images or emojis.

Also have no problem communicating via SMS.

 

[crazy monkey]

Whats app is goat

 

[FonkyByNature]

What's wrong with just sending texts?

I work at a place where reception isn't really the best so sending texts only often takes a lot of time to send the message or even worse, it just doesn't work because of the bad reception. iMessage solves that problem because it uses WiFi whenever it can. So when i need to send an important message to my wife, i don't have time to fuck around with reception or some other bullshit, this is where iMessage does wonders and it's just one example among others. Bottom line, iMessage works very well and is the reason why i prefer iPhone.

 

[ty_hot]

To those 20% who don't have iMessage, what's wrong with SMS? I don't get it.

USA os the only country that relies on SMSs in this day and age.

Btw, you cant send photos / videos / audios / location via sms.

 

[Jazzy Network]

US is so ass backwards when it comes to tech. Take forever to adopt EMV. Now gonna take forever to adopt WhatsApp.

 

[Euphoria14]

Yeah, messaging adds that toolbar in iOS 11

Wait, so it gets cluttered when I update later today?

*Runs to google to see*

 

[br3wnor]

This is exactly what made me switch back to iOS. Almost all my contacts have iPhones and use iMessage exclusively.

Yup, literally every single person I message regularly has an iPhone now, I had one friend who was holding out but he finally caved this year so now I only have iMessages going out (except my dad who still uses a flip phone and only texts once a month). That’s biggest thing from getting me to leave iOS even if I find some of the Android phone’s a attractive. I think the majority of iPhone users just keep getting iPhones because they like the system/experience, but for those who think about leaving, the iMessage thing *at least in America* is a huge roadblock.

I have WhatsApp but only for one group chat between some buddies, one of who was the Android holdout until this year but we won’t leave it because it gives more privacy than starting an iMessage chat group (with notifications off). If everyone I knew used WhatsApp I’d have no problem going Android at some point but that’s never going to happen.

 

[Korgill]

Switched to an s8+ after not being impressed by the newest Apple stuff, so figured why not try out android for a year.

But as much as I've enjoyed my short time with this phone, the lack of imessage is a complete killer.

Because there is no way I'm convincing my entire immediate and extended family to download a separate app just to send me funny gifs and videos.

They love me but not that much.

How did you other long term iPhone people adapt?

Maybe it's just me, but I don't want "funny gifs" sent to me by my family. If I'm texting them, it's something serious so normal plain texts are fine. If I'm close enough to any of them to make joking around or sending random crap they find online OK, we'll have no problem downloading something new to accommodate it. If switching apps is enough for them to stop messaging with you, you aren't close, so why care?

 

[Milennia]

i have an iphone and everyone i have met with one just uses imessage

literally only ever met 1 person who used whatsapp and then they proceeded to ditch it months later because they too only knew 1 person on it



then theres the awkward skype person, but these days outside of stock messaging like imessage the other prominent texter is discord in my experience, obviously amongst younger people

 

[Exile20]

I don't know why people keep bringing up countries i don't live in.

In the US imessage is fairly ubiquitous and I know maybe 5 people that use whatsapp

Well get your friends to switch to whatsapp and no matter what phone you have you can use it. Simple.

Everyone I know uses whatsapp and I am in the US. Depends on your circle of friends obviously.

 

[RM8]

I can't believe this thread. I guess I don't have enough American friends, lol. I've literally never used iMessage.

 

[tbm24]

It feels like everybody has an iPhone in the USA. Wtf even if 80% of the people had iMessage, the other 20% would have android and, thus, would use whatsapp, Facebook messenger, viber or whatever. it amazes me how people say "all my friends and family have iphones". It just cant be real.

Also, its like installing whatsapp would take more than 10 seconds. And im sure they wouldnt install it for you only, but im sure there are many other people that are in the same situation. Its like there are 2 completely separate communities of people: lazy people with iphones and other people with android/wp/bb.


The day my wife cant install a fckn app to talk to me I am already signing the divorce papers.

She has it, just doesn't use it. Why? Her entire circle is on iMessage. So WhatsApp is entirely for me, so naturally, she's not going to swap to an app to talk to me. She'll just text message. It just sucks to text message only on android as I can't even send a video I take to her without getting a failed message.

 

[Your Entertainer]

Well get your friends to switch to whatsapp and no matter what phone you have you can use it. Simple.

Everyone I know uses whatsapp and I am in the US. Depends on your circle of friends obviously.

Yeah nobody’s gonna download another messaging app

 

[Newline]

I don't get why people wouldn't use an app messaging service like WhatsApp... it solves the biggest issue being that some people use iOS and some use Android.

I've even gotten my parents to use WhatsApp, seriously like everyone uses it in the UK.

Yeah nobody's gonna download another messaging app

2017 and people still struggle with downloading apps?

 

[oti]

How did you other long term iPhone people adapt?

I was born in Europe.

 

[diaspora]

Yeah nobody’s gonna download an extraneous messaging app

Except the whole world. iMessage/SMS is a dinosaur everyone else has left behind.

 

[The Albatross]

Have a desktop app without having to pay, and/or use a third party app.

Universal app that does SMS, and data based messaging without having to pester people to download an app.

This has been my single most annoying thing since moving to Android.

Hangouts can actually do these things, but Google has (seemingly) dropped pushing hangouts because they're trying to promote RTM or whatever the universal rich messaging protocol is. With Project Fi, Hangouts would do SMS or Hangouts message w/ integrated contacts, rich messaging or simple SMS, and it worked on any device that supported Hangouts (so, basically every web-enabled device). But, it always felt like an experiment ad I wouldn't recommend anybody look into Hangouts for unified messaging now, especially as it seems Hangouts is on the verge of transitioning to a Slack/Teams competitor.

I'm with you, when I switched from iOS to Android I missed iMessage. But then I also realized that iMessage was never working as well as I assumed it was when I was on iOS, and other things like iMessage only being available on OS X came to grate on me (because while my home laptop is a Mac, my development desktop is Windows, and at work I use Windows + Linux [and also have a Mac]).

That said, Google's willingness to start and shutter projects and start competing projects with their own software has always baffled me from a user's perspective.

What's really sad is that Allo is a brilliant little messaging client with incredibly cool features, but fuck if I'm ever gonna tell anybody to use it, and I have no confidence that Google wont' just introduce another messaging platform in 2020.

 

[Frustrated_me]

ITT: DONT TREAD ON MY iMESSAGE APP

WhatsApp is the now and the future.

 

[The Elite]

I just text people. What am I missing out on?

Same. If someone else has an iPhone it uses i Message. Everything just works. I have never needed something like Whatsapp.

I have Facebook Messenger but most of the time it's people passing spam around. It's silly.

 

[aorange999]

It feels like everybody has an iPhone in the USA. Wtf even if 80% of the people had iMessage, the other 20% would have android and, thus, would use whatsapp, Facebook messenger, viber or whatever. it amazes me how people say "all my friends and family have iphones". It just cant be real.

Also, its like installing whatsapp would take more than 10 seconds. And im sure they wouldnt install it for you only, but im sure there are many other people that are in the same situation. Its like there are 2 completely separate communities of people: lazy people with iphones and other people with android/wp/bb.


The day my wife cant install a fckn app to talk to me I am already signing the divorce papers.

If you are of a certain demographic (anything middle class and above) I would say that probably 90% of your peers have iPhones. I work in film and advertising and I would say that its probaly more like 99%. Of that group the only ones that use Whatsapp are international travellers or those who have relatives outside the country. Whatsapp is basically useless in the USA. I have a work iPhone and a personal Note 8 (just upgraded from S8+)and I had to convince my wife to use Whatsapp to communicate with me versus the iMessage she uses with everyone else simply because I got sick of all the lost messages between us.
Sucks because Whatsapp is so universal now between desktop and mobile and relatively robust.

 

[secretanchitman]

iMessage is there and it works seamlessly. Defaults to SMS seamlessly if the other person doesn’t have it.

Not having to download some wonky third party messanging app that can potentially eat your battery is niceeee

Yep. A huge reason of why I stick with iOS/iMessage is because integrates nicely without any extra application and it works with macOS pretty well (SMS forwarding as well!)

 

[toneroni]

In NYC -
Almost all of my friends use WhatsApp
But colleagues and family use iMessage
I loved using Line back then (many mobile game players use that) but not many friends use it. Wish it had greater adoption.