I use it to text with my brothers, one in Florida and the other in Myanmar. I find it very responsive and easy to use. Easy to share videos and photos too. You can make phone calls through the app and the clarity is amazing, like they’re sitting in the room talking to you.
I highly recommend Telegram Messenger. Almost every person I talk to online one-on-one is using it. It’s free, fast, very simple, secure, and takes up little space on your device. It also works across all platforms seamlessly. Telegram supports IM, group IM, voice calls, and also voice messages (sending blurbs of audio rather than text). You can also send video messages this way.
@jareza@Yoda_Daenerys I can attest: I live in Mexico and everyone here uses WhatsApp. Myself included.
I maintain a USA phone (and carrier) and, for me, the trick was making sure I have the Mexico country code at the start of the number. So, for example, my local taxi’s number in WhatsApp is:
“+52 322 211 72 08”.
If you’ve not done that, try that and see if it helps.
WhatsApp is great. However, note it was bought a couple years ago by privacy-hating Facebook.
FB’s pre-buy WhatsApp research method was evil. They own a VPN service they used to monitor mobile user behavior. They were surprised to learn via that tool that message volume on, third party at the time, WhatApp was twice FB’s own Messenger… and quickly growing. So FB bought WhatsApp.
WhatsApp features that make it attractive:
Can be used for both messaging and voice calling.
Does at the device 128 bit encryption, presumably protecting the content of the conversation.
Seems to be pretty reliable.
That encryption feature makes it useful for protected conversations with our daughter in China and Hong Kong.
We now use it to connect family members all over the US via various WA groups. We text less often since SMS texting is not fast, not reliable, and not secure. (Note: if your primary correspondents are on iPhones, iMessage addresses those SMS deficiencies… and like WA, backs up your messages unlike SMS texting.)
Presumably it would be meta data mining since the content is supposedly encrypted…
Might have seen something about FB hoping to consolidate messaging.
(I refuse to use FB Messenger since they separated it from FB. Occasionally use it in FB Web desktop since it is still inside on that platform. I do use FB, but far less than in the past and even uninstalled it from my phone. Most of my FB use is via my “public”/spamable account where the purpose is more as a newsfeed for various interests… not really as “social media”.)
@FeralRants Except I wasn’t referring to WhatsApp. You referred to Apple users complaining about different color bubbles. That would be non-iMessage (non-Apple) SMS texters texting with Apple iMessage users, resulting in different color bubbles.
Whatsapp works fine, the only problem I have with it is that it is tied to one device, meaning that if you are sent a message, it only arrives on one device, same for sending…you need a separate account for each of your devices.
My iMessages can be sent and received on any of my iOS devices, at the same time.
You won’t be successful getting your new friend to use anything other than whatsapp, so you might as well figure it out.
I use it to text with my brothers, one in Florida and the other in Myanmar. I find it very responsive and easy to use. Easy to share videos and photos too. You can make phone calls through the app and the clarity is amazing, like they’re sitting in the room talking to you.
I highly recommend Telegram Messenger. Almost every person I talk to online one-on-one is using it. It’s free, fast, very simple, secure, and takes up little space on your device. It also works across all platforms seamlessly. Telegram supports IM, group IM, voice calls, and also voice messages (sending blurbs of audio rather than text). You can also send video messages this way.
Maybe it’s like calling into customer service, and to reach MX you must first oprima el ocho.
Everyone uses WhatsApp in Mexico so I’d say go for it… you do need to have their phone number to contact them though
@jareza @Yoda_Daenerys I can attest: I live in Mexico and everyone here uses WhatsApp. Myself included.
I maintain a USA phone (and carrier) and, for me, the trick was making sure I have the Mexico country code at the start of the number. So, for example, my local taxi’s number in WhatsApp is:
“+52 322 211 72 08”.
If you’ve not done that, try that and see if it helps.
WhatsApp is great. However, note it was bought a couple years ago by privacy-hating Facebook.
FB’s pre-buy WhatsApp research method was evil. They own a VPN service they used to monitor mobile user behavior. They were surprised to learn via that tool that message volume on, third party at the time, WhatApp was twice FB’s own Messenger… and quickly growing. So FB bought WhatsApp.
WhatsApp features that make it attractive:
That encryption feature makes it useful for protected conversations with our daughter in China and Hong Kong.
We now use it to connect family members all over the US via various WA groups. We text less often since SMS texting is not fast, not reliable, and not secure. (Note: if your primary correspondents are on iPhones, iMessage addresses those SMS deficiencies… and like WA, backs up your messages unlike SMS texting.)
@RedOak
Is there any evidence that FB has started mining from Whatsapp individual usage?
I am so disgusted with FB.
@f00l haven’t come across any.
Presumably it would be meta data mining since the content is supposedly encrypted…
Might have seen something about FB hoping to consolidate messaging.
(I refuse to use FB Messenger since they separated it from FB. Occasionally use it in FB Web desktop since it is still inside on that platform. I do use FB, but far less than in the past and even uninstalled it from my phone. Most of my FB use is via my “public”/spamable account where the purpose is more as a newsfeed for various interests… not really as “social media”.)
@RedOak
I use FB only because family does, and so that’s where the baby and family pix are. But I’m so fed up with them that I have not opened it in months.
I use it only via the app. And I limit what address the app has. No address book for instance.
I refuse to login to FB via a browser. If I did, it should be a browser just for FB, and nothing else.
Even so I’m sure they track me via browser.
I have one person I contact thru whatsapp.
If FB Inc (visibly to us) messes with WhatsApp too much, or goes cross-platform to FB Messenger etc, I’ll quit using WA.
@f00l yep - that’s why I use all three browsers - segregating sites. Although I wonder whether a clever site could cross over browser files.
The bottom line is if you do anything online or use a smartphone you’ve largely given up privacy. Even VPNing doesn’t perfectly protect you.
@RedOak
Delete cookies constantly.
But they will track us anyway.
I use it for group chats, so the friends on Apple devices can stop complaining about the color of their damn bubbles.
@FeralRants Not too late to join the happy crowd and use more the reliable than SMS text, more secure, and always backed up iMessage!
@RedOak But…Whatsapp isn’t sms, is backed up, and not locked to one platform or device. Superior in my eyes
@FeralRants Except I wasn’t referring to WhatsApp. You referred to Apple users complaining about different color bubbles. That would be non-iMessage (non-Apple) SMS texters texting with Apple iMessage users, resulting in different color bubbles.
Whatsapp works fine, the only problem I have with it is that it is tied to one device, meaning that if you are sent a message, it only arrives on one device, same for sending…you need a separate account for each of your devices.
My iMessages can be sent and received on any of my iOS devices, at the same time.
You won’t be successful getting your new friend to use anything other than whatsapp, so you might as well figure it out.
Congrats on the new friend!