Maybe I’m old but I’m really getting annoyed with apps becoming so bloated with features. The podcast integration was part of why I left Spotify. I was tired of having podcasts pop up on my home screen. Tidal luckily is free from this for the moment.
I’m of the same opinion. I’m tired of every app trying to take all my attention and do everything to the point where they do nothing well.
I want a video app, a music app, and a podcast app. I left YouTube Music for Tidal because I got tired of YT Music trying to push too many bloated features.
The elephant in the room, of course, is that this is literally only a problem in the United States. Everywhere else in the world, folks are totally fine using messaging apps. WhatsApp is pretty popular worldwide, and there are regional favorites too. But, the point is, it’s only in the States that people seem to be against this idea. The answer for why is very much up for debate, but the conversation is, at this point, just getting exhausting.
Can confirm, as a Brit. We probably would have a sardonic explanation for why only people in the States are against using other messengers too…
Yep. In Japan we all use LINE with a small fraction of (largely Western foreigners) using whatsapp. Korea has kakaotalk with some (also?) using LINE. I'm not sure what's most popular in Chinese circles these days; WeChat, maybe?
I went to great lengths to get my family group chat migrated from FB Messenger over to WhatsApp, and then Meta bought WhatsApp. I’m doomed. I’ll never get these Americans to transition to something like Signal
This right here is the attitude that most people have, because it’s not convenient for them. Suck it up, there are many things in life you do not want to do, but you have to do them anyways.
This one seriously annoyed me. And it hasn’t convinced me to switch to YT Music, and instead I just found a (noticeably worse) alternative
It was such a simple and useful app, did exactly everything it needed to and nothing it didn’t. I very much dislike the trend of YouTube “everything”-ing their scattered smaller apps into one big conglomerated app.
So before you can message anyone you have to download whatsapp? iMessage is preinstalled and is also e2e encrypted. Idk if I’d rather Facebook or Apple (who can access iCloud backups of normally otherwise encrypted data, etc.) in charge of my messaging infrastructure, honestly.
Americans with Android are left to use literal SMS which is atrocious, or a different messaging solution, probably whatsapp I guess
edit: I don’t like iMessage or the current state of messaging in the US. I feel like all the default messaging apps should be able to communicate e2e encrypted via some shared standard or something-- it’s weird to have to go third party
Yes, most people in western Europe use Whatsapp. Yes, they have to download it before they can use it. Maybe some phones have it preinstalled, but most smartphone users do know how to download apps. More tech-savvy and privacy-conscious people often have Signal as well.
WhatsApp became the dominant messaging platform in Europe before Facebook bought them. Most people are locked in to it because change is hard and they don’t care that much about privacy.
The privacy concerns are not that Meta will read your messages (because they can’t, as you mention), but the metadata they can read such as your details and who you contact.
“So, Facebook can track who sends WhatsApp messages, when, to whom, from which location (if a user allows), etc - but not the content itself,” Rykov says “This creates a privacy concern for people who want full anonymity. These people should consider using more privacy-enhancing apps like Signal, Threema, Wire instead.”
the metadata they can read such as your details and who you contact.
Every provider of communication services can. Singling out WhatsApp in that regard makes no sense. Apple happily hands over metadata and iCloud backups to the FBI.
In the congress hearing zucky boy did, he was asked whether Facebook could read Messenger and WhatsApp messages
his response was to more or less trip over himself avowing that Facebook couldn't read WhatsApp messages—even when a follow up question specifically asked him about Messenger, he chose to ignore it and reaffirm that WhatsApp messages were private
i don't really see why he would've done that unless WhatsApp actually was encrypted, given that if he were lying about one it would be a lot easier to just lie about both
his response was to more or less trip over himself avowing that Facebook couldn’t read WhatsApp messages—even when a follow up question specifically asked him about Messenger, he chose to ignore it and reaffirm that WhatsApp messages were private
Not hard! Just unfamiliar that’s all. Seems weird to me having just always used iMessage here in the states, which has awful interoperability with Android devices
the Android ios garbage, that’s by design really terrible behaviour by Apple. it’s not a technology limitation, it’s on purpose to keep people using Apple.
Just unfamiliar that’s all. Seems weird to me having just always used iMessage here in the states, which has awful interoperability with Android devices
There’s no need to be a jerk. For some of us it is just unexpected to hear that folks have phones where they download their primary messaging app. It would be like downloading an app to make calls - it’s just such a fundamental, core feature, that I wouldn’t really think to go third-party for my daily usage. It’s not that it makes no sense, but I hope you can understand why that is a little surprising to some people.
I know that in the 20 years or so since I first got a cellphone I have just used whatever is on the phone natively. Nothing wrong with using WhatsApp, you do you. But that was how it used to be, and WhatsApp did not become so dominant until recently.
Android users get to use the default messages app, with the whole e2e encryption, reactions, full sized photos etc… SMS is used for advertisements, and sending messages to iphone users… SMS is only used by old people for 2fa as 2fa apps usualy have superior security and are now systematically prefered by companies.
Both iphone users and android users need to download an extra app if they want E2E, full graphic images and videos, reactions etc…
Just as people aren’t content with iWork and usually download Office because it works the same and can be read with the same formatting everywhere.
Even if it wasn't, technological illiteracy cannot justify imposing a vendor lock-in upon the others. Installing an independent messenger like Signal is not rocket science.
Americans with Android are stuck using SMS half the time because Americans with iPhones are literally holding us back. If it wasn’t for iMessage, we would have ditched SMS years ago, but when you suggest to an iPhone user that they use something other than iMessage their head explodes, apparently.
when you suggest to an iPhone user that they use something other than iMessage their head explodes, apparently.
Android users aren’t in such a tiny minority over there. Even by pure chance, there should be a decent number of Android users initiating events but since even they are so obsessed with iMessage, they don’t even try to use something else.
Yeah it actually varies a lot. In Poland Whatsapp is the boomer messaging app for cringy political memes used exclusively by 50+ year-olds. Everyone else uses Facebook Messenger and Telegram (especially Ukrainians, Belarussians and people who work with them)
Germany uses Whatsapp and Signal. Whatsapp for the older generation, Signal for the younger ones. But almost everyone has both. Telegram is a niche messenger for conspiracy theorists and alt-righters, because it’s russian and those people love Russia.
Everyone who has an iPhone uses iMessage as a main communication app. Nobody bothers to replace their default SMS client and literally all banks, institutions, 2FA and key communications rely on sms to work.
The fact that most people seem to prefer to have their personal or business chats on WhatsApp is secondary to SMS and iMessage (on iPhone obviously).
but SMS isn't where "main communication" happens anymore
virtually all banks and institutions also send out letters via the postal service, but I wouldn't say that was proof that "main communication" was typically delivered via envelope
Everyone who has an iPhone uses iMessage as a main communication app. Nobody bothers to replace their default SMS client and literally all banks, institutions, 2FA and key communications rely on sms to work.
Receiving a second factor is hardly communication. Nobody sends a thank you SMS back.
This is so comically wrong I don’t know where to start. SMS was fucked from the get go, especially in the US where it was common to charge by the message for SMS. Seriously. It was $0.25 to send and $0.10 to receive them on a lot of people’s plans.
The wireless carriers fucked SMS, and will absolutely fuck up RCS - along with all the various providers out there. It’s a dogshit standard that isn’t broadly interoperable still.
iMessage was a breath of fresh air for people who did use SMS.
It’s so weird to me that in the US you pay to receive messages or calls. Where I live the sender pays, or the caller pays. It doesn’t cost to receive. Plus you normally get unlimited messages anyway, like even a approx US$10 a month plan will have unlimited SMS included and like 200 minutes of outbound calling, plus data.
If you’re paying for messages received then people can send you unsolicited messages and it costs you money?
I think they’re now broadly free on all but the most restrictive plans- but when iMessage came to be they weren’t - and most phones wouldn’t split 160 characters into multiple messages. You were literally limited by that.
They used to charge extra if you were roaming too. I think T-Mobile was the first to stop and everyone followed.
Sms was from a time communications weren’t done over IP, RCS or iMessage use the IP protocol, RCS could be implemented by the telcos but isn’t because , unlike SMS, it can also be implemented by anyone with a server with a connection to the internet but as RCS is an open GSMA telecom standard, it is implemented within all modem chips by phone makers, even Apple has a Qualcomm modem chip with RCS management included. I reckon it needs a few extra features in the basic standard such as E2E encryption, chatbot capabilities, malware and spoofing protection, maybe Google could help there as they have introduced those into their Message app and could disclose their code, but they are obviously trying hard to create a walled garden too… The solution could come from Meta as they seem pretty keen to advance on open communications (Threads interoperability with Mastodon is a demonstration of that policy)
You’re insanely correct, and it was extra fucked because it wasn’t even MORE DATA being used. It was piggybacking on unused data packets already being sent to towers, hence the character limit. BUT WE CAN NAKE MORE MONEY IF WE CHARGE FOR THAT
All my family uses Android, except for a few exceptions. They all dropped signal when it lost sms support. So we use sms instead, fucking cool move signal.
We don’t use Signal for SMS, we use Signal for E2E encryption. Signal for SMS is useless.
I’ve basically started telling people to either message me on Signal or I likely won’t respond in a timely manner, if ever. Not my problem. Urgent? Better call.
They keep making it harder to use ☹️ I miss when I could just long press the viewfinder in the camera and it would activate lens. Now it’s not even in the camera at all!
This update has annoyed me. You used to be able to screenshot and if it was foreign, lens would offer to translate it from the screenshot pop-up, that’s no longer the case.
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