{"slug": "whatsapp", "name": "WhatsApp", "category": "communication", "category_name": "Email and chat", "description": "Meta-owned messaging app for text chats, group chats, and voice and video calls.", "recommenders": 5, "commenters": 46, "warners": 15, "score": -2.673, "rising": -0.31, "first": "2025-11-07", "latest": "2026-10-31", "why": "Used for everyday chat with family, friends and local groups because nearly everyone is on it, and some value that the provider can't mine message contents.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 27, "compare": 1, "warn": 16}, "spark": [1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Everyone uses it", "Family chat"], "caveat": "Meta ownership", "short_quote": "I use both Telegram and WhatsApp and I haven\u2019t found anything lacking in the latter, UX wise.", "icon": true, "domain": "dumbphones.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.whatsapp.com", "pricing": "free", "aliases": ["WhatsApp"], "verdict": [{"text": "Used for everyday chat with family, friends and local groups because nearly everyone is on it,", "cites": [{"id": 773615120, "item_id": 48350945, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48350945", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-05-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends.", "excerpt": "I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends. I'm also happy to pay for things that improve my experience. ...but it's unclear what this subscription would give me. The announcement has no real details, the article is light on detail, and the WhatsApp website has no mention of this subscription. I get that it's hard. What I want is a good text and call app, and that's hard to charge for at s", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging family and friends", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions"}, {"id": 785408896, "item_id": 49088056, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49088056", "by": "chistev", "date": "2026-07-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it.", "excerpt": "I don't know. I lost my Facebook account because they suspended me for \"integrity issues\". I tried and failed to appeal successfully. I was pissed at first because I had had that account for over a decade, but after some months, I was glad to have lost it. I don't use Instagram. I only use Twitter now. Reddit on read-only mode. WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it. But I'm considering taki", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What will it take you to shift to a new social media platform?"}, {"id": 782152144, "item_id": 48884509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48884509", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-07-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain.", "excerpt": "WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain. Telegram a strong second. The rest non-existent. Though I use discord for global reach interest groups. Never for local communities. Small ones are always on WhatsApp. Big ones usually telegram.", "context": "lives in Spain", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media"}, {"id": 753835568, "item_id": 47114723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47114723", "by": "tibbydudeza", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups", "excerpt": "Interesting but it assumes the teens will bother to look at it. We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups and who needs what from the shops or the pharmacy (they are on our healthcare plan) and general conversation about events or troubles and parental advice in their lives. One kid live on her own with her bf a few minutes from us but she can't drive so we sometimes have to pick her up fro", "context": "parent", "use_case": "family coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard"}]}, {"text": " and some value that the provider can't mine message contents.", "cites": [{"id": 800502864, "item_id": 50031429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031429", "by": "lxgr", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Knowing the provider can\u2019t mine my message data more than makes up for that.", "excerpt": "I use them daily, so we might just have different priorities. Bot access is definitely better in Telegram; that\u2019s what I sometimes use it for. WhatsApp has voice message transcription now, but fortunately I don\u2019t receive many. (I consider it pretty rude to put the effort of messaging on the recipient because the sender can\u2019t be bothered to type or transcribe on their side.) Everything else you mentioned is a minor in", "context": "uses both daily", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen"}]}, {"text": " The most common complaint is Meta ownership and privacy,", "cites": [{"id": 786922673, "item_id": 49182667, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49182667", "by": "nxtbl", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "That's a hard no.", "excerpt": "> We use a WhatsApp group for co-ordination. The time and location of the meetup is announced there. That's a hard no. You really, really should use Signal instead.", "context": "", "use_case": "group coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup"}, {"id": 786897520, "item_id": 49181095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181095", "by": "BonerWiener", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...", "excerpt": "> We use a WhatsApp group for co-ordination I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...", "context": "", "use_case": "group coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup"}, {"id": 776878704, "item_id": 48554919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48554919", "by": "baggachipz", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano.", "excerpt": "I like the idea, but I have major problems with their inclusion of Meta-owned WhatsApp. Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano. That said, I understand why they include it as much of the world uses it as the default for some reason I still can't understand. Anyway, I love the idea and would use something like this if it allowed me to choose a configuration at order time which could", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Commodore Releases Flip Phone"}]}, {"text": " with several saying they use it only because they have to.", "cites": [{"id": 800709681, "item_id": 50044355, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50044355", "by": "Aozora7", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I'm forced to have whatsapp and telegram to communicate with the general population and I wouldn't use them if I didn't have to.", "excerpt": "Discord is by far my favorite communication platform across anything I used in my entire life, nothing else comes even close in terms of feature set. It also helps that almost everyone I like is there. I'm forced to have whatsapp and telegram to communicate with the general population and I wouldn't use them if I didn't have to.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "IRCv3"}, {"id": 781290048, "item_id": 48830628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48830628", "by": "retired", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I use WhatsApp to contact the municipality, the GP uses it to send my blood results and package delivery drivers ask me to share my location. I hate it.", "excerpt": "Meanwhile in Spain I use WhatsApp to contact the municipality, the GP uses it to send my blood results and package delivery drivers ask me to share my location. I hate it.", "context": "Lives in Spain", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "List of European organizations that have banned personal messaging apps at work"}, {"id": 782831616, "item_id": 48926976, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926976", "by": "Krasnol", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Whatsapp only because I have to.", "excerpt": "I agree on all the content related things but your argument was about speed. I use whatsapp web every day at work. The page. In my Firefox browser. It's almost constantly open. Never had any issues with that. The phone app just does what it's supposed to do and even on my Pixel6, it's just fast. I mean there is always faster but it's not even a second. I use Whatsapp only because I have to. Privately, I prefer Signal", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mysteries of Telegram Data Centers"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Everyone uses it", "summary": "Commenters say it is where most of their contacts and local groups already are, especially outside the US.", "quotes": [{"id": 785408896, "item_id": 49088056, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49088056", "by": "chistev", "date": "2026-07-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it.", "excerpt": "I don't know. I lost my Facebook account because they suspended me for \"integrity issues\". I tried and failed to appeal successfully. I was pissed at first because I had had that account for over a decade, but after some months, I was glad to have lost it. I don't use Instagram. I only use Twitter now. Reddit on read-only mode. WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it. But I'm considering taki", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What will it take you to shift to a new social media platform?"}, {"id": 782152144, "item_id": 48884509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48884509", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-07-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain.", "excerpt": "WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain. Telegram a strong second. The rest non-existent. Though I use discord for global reach interest groups. Never for local communities. Small ones are always on WhatsApp. Big ones usually telegram.", "context": "lives in Spain", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media"}, {"id": 791569024, "item_id": 49473064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49473064", "by": "lbebber", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "In Brazil, communications do run entirely on WhatsApp", "excerpt": "In Brazil, communications do run entirely on WhatsApp, but payments are entirely on Pix. Also I rememeber when there was a Meta-wide outage, and people switched to Telegram within the day, so the stranglehold they have might not be that strong.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta Paid $17B \u2013 Gets to Write Safety Rules for Other SocMedia Platform"}]}, {"label": "Family chat", "summary": "Used as the main channel for keeping in touch with family and friends.", "quotes": [{"id": 773615120, "item_id": 48350945, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48350945", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-05-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends.", "excerpt": "I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends. I'm also happy to pay for things that improve my experience. ...but it's unclear what this subscription would give me. The announcement has no real details, the article is light on detail, and the WhatsApp website has no mention of this subscription. I get that it's hard. What I want is a good text and call app, and that's hard to charge for at s", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging family and friends", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions"}, {"id": 753835568, "item_id": 47114723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47114723", "by": "tibbydudeza", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups", "excerpt": "Interesting but it assumes the teens will bother to look at it. We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups and who needs what from the shops or the pharmacy (they are on our healthcare plan) and general conversation about events or troubles and parental advice in their lives. One kid live on her own with her bf a few minutes from us but she can't drive so we sometimes have to pick her up fro", "context": "parent", "use_case": "family coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard"}, {"id": 733745792, "item_id": 45859112, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45859112", "by": "kelthuzad", "date": "2025-11-08", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "There are dumb phones with whatsapp and you can share images on whatsapp too!", "excerpt": ">Yes, i imagined this happening, my grandma imagined her bank account being empty, and the police imagined filing a report. People have vivid imaginations and still none of that is relevant to what constitutes an anti-competitive business practice that is in violation of fair market principles and relevant laws. >I cannot buy her a dumbphone because we use whatsapp to keep in touch and google photos to share photos w", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging and sharing photos", "switched_from": "", "story": null}]}, {"label": "Calls", "summary": "Used for voice calls and group calls.", "quotes": [{"id": 800680752, "item_id": 50042547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042547", "by": "sdcfgy", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I will note that we use WhatsApp for group calls.", "excerpt": "I did note that anomaly. You\u2019re not wrong on phone calls. But you gain so more. A friend calls in tears - can you really feel that on WhatsApp? I will note that we use WhatsApp for group calls. I do actually miss having a desk phone and having the policy that calls are always urgent and emails are not. A bit of respect between people forms then.", "context": "", "use_case": "group calls", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wish you the best in the Offline"}, {"id": 788104192, "item_id": 49256512, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49256512", "by": "rr808", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use on Messenger and Whatsapp much more often for voice calls", "excerpt": "Me too. The problem is now I trust Meta with much of this instead of the FCC which is awkward for me. I use on Messenger and Whatsapp much more often for voice calls, and you know exactly who is calling.", "context": "", "use_case": "voice calls", "switched_from": "", "story": "France to ban unsolicited telemarketing calls"}]}, {"label": "Works smoothly", "summary": "Users report the web and phone apps are fast and the UX lacks nothing compared with Telegram.", "quotes": [{"id": 782831616, "item_id": 48926976, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926976", "by": "Krasnol", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Whatsapp only because I have to.", "excerpt": "I agree on all the content related things but your argument was about speed. I use whatsapp web every day at work. The page. In my Firefox browser. It's almost constantly open. Never had any issues with that. The phone app just does what it's supposed to do and even on my Pixel6, it's just fast. I mean there is always faster but it's not even a second. I use Whatsapp only because I have to. Privately, I prefer Signal", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mysteries of Telegram Data Centers"}, {"id": 800495216, "item_id": 50030951, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50030951", "by": "lxgr", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use both Telegram and WhatsApp and I haven\u2019t found anything lacking in the latter, UX wise.", "excerpt": "What a bizarre threat model. Why would you rather have your data with who knows who than just your metadata? And what UX problems exactly is Telegram solving that its many competitors aren\u2019t? I hear this all the time, but I use both Telegram and WhatsApp and I haven\u2019t found anything lacking in the latter, UX wise.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen"}]}, {"label": "Message privacy", "summary": "One user values that the provider can't mine message data.", "quotes": [{"id": 800502864, "item_id": 50031429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031429", "by": "lxgr", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Knowing the provider can\u2019t mine my message data more than makes up for that.", "excerpt": "I use them daily, so we might just have different priorities. Bot access is definitely better in Telegram; that\u2019s what I sometimes use it for. WhatsApp has voice message transcription now, but fortunately I don\u2019t receive many. (I consider it pretty rude to put the effort of messaging on the recipient because the sender can\u2019t be bothered to type or transcribe on their side.) Everything else you mentioned is a minor in", "context": "uses both daily", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen"}]}, {"label": "Business reach", "summary": "One company switched delivery notifications to it after RCS reached too few devices.", "quotes": [{"id": 735676737, "item_id": 45979796, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979796", "by": "jackconsidine", "date": "2025-11-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So we switched to  WhatsApp.", "excerpt": "We send many thousands of delivery notifications per day on SMS over Twilio. I've been wanting to use RCS for a long time (better group notification experiences, branded identification etc). Tried to do so last month: you pay a fee (I think $500) to enable RCS with a third-party only to find out that a small percentage of devices have it enabled making it effectively useless. So we switched to WhatsApp.", "context": "sends thousands of delivery notifications daily", "use_case": "customer notifications", "switched_from": "RCS", "story": "I just want working RCS messaging"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Meta ownership", "summary": "Many object to using a Meta-owned service for privacy reasons.", "quotes": [{"id": 786897520, "item_id": 49181095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181095", "by": "BonerWiener", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...", "excerpt": "> We use a WhatsApp group for co-ordination I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...", "context": "", "use_case": "group coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup"}, {"id": 776878704, "item_id": 48554919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48554919", "by": "baggachipz", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano.", "excerpt": "I like the idea, but I have major problems with their inclusion of Meta-owned WhatsApp. Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano. That said, I understand why they include it as much of the world uses it as the default for some reason I still can't understand. Anyway, I love the idea and would use something like this if it allowed me to choose a configuration at order time which could", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Commodore Releases Flip Phone"}, {"id": 782298945, "item_id": 48893684, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48893684", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "at least it's not the Zuck's FaceBook/Instagram/WhatsApp exploitative ecosystem", "excerpt": "> Part of me hopes that we got back to the late 1990s dedicated websites/forums. That seems to be the Discord model but let's see. Dunno: people in my circles all have Telegram (Europe here but I think they have 1 billion MAU now: they're not just successful in Europe). I've got Telegram groups depending on my interests. I just got invited to try ball trap (clay pidgeon shooting) tomorrow. Then another group set up a", "context": "Europe-based user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media"}]}, {"label": "Forced to use", "summary": "Several use it only because others do and would rather not.", "quotes": [{"id": 800709681, "item_id": 50044355, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50044355", "by": "Aozora7", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I'm forced to have whatsapp and telegram to communicate with the general population and I wouldn't use them if I didn't have to.", "excerpt": "Discord is by far my favorite communication platform across anything I used in my entire life, nothing else comes even close in terms of feature set. It also helps that almost everyone I like is there. I'm forced to have whatsapp and telegram to communicate with the general population and I wouldn't use them if I didn't have to.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "IRCv3"}, {"id": 781290048, "item_id": 48830628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48830628", "by": "retired", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I use WhatsApp to contact the municipality, the GP uses it to send my blood results and package delivery drivers ask me to share my location. I hate it.", "excerpt": "Meanwhile in Spain I use WhatsApp to contact the municipality, the GP uses it to send my blood results and package delivery drivers ask me to share my location. I hate it.", "context": "Lives in Spain", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "List of European organizations that have banned personal messaging apps at work"}, {"id": 782831616, "item_id": 48926976, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926976", "by": "Krasnol", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Whatsapp only because I have to.", "excerpt": "I agree on all the content related things but your argument was about speed. I use whatsapp web every day at work. The page. In my Firefox browser. It's almost constantly open. Never had any issues with that. The phone app just does what it's supposed to do and even on my Pixel6, it's just fast. I mean there is always faster but it's not even a second. I use Whatsapp only because I have to. Privately, I prefer Signal", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mysteries of Telegram Data Centers"}]}, {"label": "Multi-device and keys", "summary": "Device linking is called annoying, and history can become unreadable or lost when switching phones.", "quotes": [{"id": 805097585, "item_id": 50318599, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50318599", "by": "ktosobcy", "date": "2026-10-31", "stance": "warn", "quote": "same with WhatsApp super annoying linking between mobile and desktop", "excerpt": "TBH this was my reason not to use Signal at all... same with WhatsApp super annoying linking between mobile and desktop :/ Why can't we use XMPP where you can have multiple device and accounts without required mobile phone? Oh I know - because dumb walled gardens and BigTech not liking it... it's a mirracle we got away with e-mail before they came to power :/", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable"}, {"id": 740036096, "item_id": 46252256, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46252256", "by": "laserbeam", "date": "2025-12-12", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The fact that whatsapp, signal and other platforms tend to have a primary device for keys is bonkers to me.", "excerpt": "Someone needs to design a super dumb and robust system where I can safely store all my keys on all devices I use an account. The fact that whatsapp, signal and other platforms tend to have a primary device for keys is bonkers to me. A primary device that can randomly die, get stolen or fall in a lake. I have lost chat histories more times than I can remember, and I have to be extra diligent about this these days. I d", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Poor Johnny still won't encrypt"}, {"id": 737578864, "item_id": 46098679, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46098679", "by": "karmakaze", "date": "2025-11-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "old messages weren't readable. They needed to do a key exchange with other participant but it never seemed to ever render.", "excerpt": "I put off replacing my phone for a long time too. When I finally did it wasn't a big deal. Basically getting a SIM for a temporary phone gives me phone/text that handles 2FA except for work that needs authenticator. The unexpected thing when I put WhatsApp on the new phone was that old messages weren't readable. They needed to do a key exchange with other participant but it never seemed to ever render. That was about", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Discovering that my smartphone had infiltrated my life"}]}, {"label": "Account blocks", "summary": "One user's account was blocked after messaging a new contact from WhatsApp Web.", "quotes": [{"id": 786775760, "item_id": 49173485, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49173485", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Next morning I wake up with Whatsapp account blocked", "excerpt": "This exactly happened to me as well in beginning of July when I dared to contact my airbnb host from different country directly from web.whatsapp on computer just after adding their contact.. Immediately saw Restricted messages, but once they answered we chatted normally and everything worked fine. Next morning I wake up with Whatsapp account blocked (one day before flight, very convenient timing...), so immediately ", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "People are mysteriously disappearing off WhatsApp"}]}, {"label": "Unencrypted backups", "summary": "On Android, backups are stored unencrypted in Google Drive by default.", "quotes": [{"id": 770713553, "item_id": 48169597, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48169597", "by": "microtonal", "date": "2026-05-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "by default when backups are enabled, they are stored unencrypted in Google Drive", "excerpt": "I think my message wooshed. I was not comparing disk encryption and iCloud backups. My point is that insecure defaults are Apple and other's alternative to backdoors. They give plausible deniability (\"how is someone able to recover their data if they lost their credentials and we used E2E?\"), while at the same time satisfying law enforcement, because the vast majority of people is not aware of them. Another example i", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Security researcher says Microsoft built a Bitlocker backdoor, releases exploit"}]}, {"label": "Developer API hurdles", "summary": "Building a simple notification bot required business registration and identity verification.", "quotes": [{"id": 764460224, "item_id": 47778764, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47778764", "by": "JimmaDaRustla", "date": "2026-04-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It was a bureaucratic nightmare", "excerpt": "I tried creating a whatsapp \"bot\" which would just send notifications for my Jellyfin server. It was a bureaucratic nightmare - creating dev accounts, creating some sort of \"project\", then it was requiring I register it as a business as though the only valid use case for creating an app for WhatsApp is a business, then it required me to verify my identify and upload documents. I just switched to Signal.", "context": "", "use_case": "bot for Jellyfin notifications", "switched_from": "", "story": "Peter Steinberger \u2013 WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send"}]}], "who": [{"by": "lxgr", "context": "uses both daily", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031429", "date": "2026-10-10"}, {"by": "Markoff", "context": "has clients in China, relies on email", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49018306", "date": "2026-07-23"}, {"by": "jandrewrogers", "context": "has spent a lot of time overseas", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48889176", "date": "2026-07-13"}, {"by": "wolvoleo", "context": "lives in Spain", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48884509", "date": "2026-07-12"}, {"by": "tibbydudeza", "context": "parent", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47114723", "date": "2026-02-22"}, {"by": "system2", "context": "Windows user with 50+ apps installed", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46799829", "date": "2026-01-28"}, {"by": "jackconsidine", "context": "sends thousands of delivery notifications daily", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45979796", "date": "2025-11-19"}, {"by": "dismantlethesun", "context": "restaurant operator", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943545", "date": "2025-11-16"}], "tags": ["for family chat", "for group coordination", "for international contacts", "for business notifications"], "use_cases": ["messaging", "group coordination", "group messaging", "keeping in touch", "group calls", "small communities"], "compared": [{"slug": "signal", "name": "Signal", "co": 19, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "telegram", "name": "Telegram", "co": 17, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 1}, {"slug": "discord", "name": "Discord", "co": 11, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "matrix", "name": "Matrix", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "facebook", "name": "Facebook", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "google-sheets", "name": "Google Sheets", "co": 1, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "xmpp", "name": "XMPP", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50029123", "title": "Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49180407", "title": "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48879902", "title": "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50314666", "title": "Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50181137", "title": "The No Kings Takedown Is Why You Shouldn't Rent Your Megaphone from Zuck", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50041540", "title": "IRCv3", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 4, "recommend": 1, "warn": 1}, "2025-12": {"warn": 2}, "2026-01": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 3, "recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"warn": 1}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 2}, "2026-05": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {"warn": 2, "neutral": 5, "recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 4, "neutral": 5}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 2}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 4, "recommend": 1, "compare": 1, "warn": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 805097585, "item_id": 50318599, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50318599", "by": "ktosobcy", "date": "2026-10-31", "stance": "warn", "quote": "same with WhatsApp super annoying linking between mobile and desktop", "excerpt": "TBH this was my reason not to use Signal at all... same with WhatsApp super annoying linking between mobile and desktop :/ Why can't we use XMPP where you can have multiple device and accounts without required mobile phone? Oh I know - because dumb walled gardens and BigTech not liking it... it's a mirracle we got away with e-mail before they came to power :/", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable"}, {"id": 802917057, "item_id": 50182316, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50182316", "by": "MisterTea", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use signal, whatsapp, discord, irc, google chat, email and messenger without complaint.", "excerpt": "I don't understand why having more than one chat app is too much for some people. I use signal, whatsapp, discord, irc, google chat, email and messenger without complaint. I can't force people to use my platform of choice so I have to compromise and use what they do with little to no notice on my end. Sure, I am not happy with this situation but I accept it and move on while keeping an eye out for alternatives.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "The No Kings Takedown Is Why You Shouldn't Rent Your Megaphone from Zuck"}, {"id": 800709681, "item_id": 50044355, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50044355", "by": "Aozora7", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I'm forced to have whatsapp and telegram to communicate with the general population and I wouldn't use them if I didn't have to.", "excerpt": "Discord is by far my favorite communication platform across anything I used in my entire life, nothing else comes even close in terms of feature set. It also helps that almost everyone I like is there. I'm forced to have whatsapp and telegram to communicate with the general population and I wouldn't use them if I didn't have to.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "IRCv3"}, {"id": 800680752, "item_id": 50042547, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042547", "by": "sdcfgy", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I will note that we use WhatsApp for group calls.", "excerpt": "I did note that anomaly. You\u2019re not wrong on phone calls. But you gain so more. A friend calls in tears - can you really feel that on WhatsApp? I will note that we use WhatsApp for group calls. I do actually miss having a desk phone and having the policy that calls are always urgent and emails are not. A bit of respect between people forms then.", "context": "", "use_case": "group calls", "switched_from": "", "story": "I wish you the best in the Offline"}, {"id": 800674001, "item_id": 50042125, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50042125", "by": "jurf", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use it e.g. WhatsApp, where I just need three people", "excerpt": "While not great, a private space or work profile with Shelter can work in a a pinch. I use it e.g. WhatsApp, where I just need three people, but which is almost unusable if you don\u2019t give it the permission. It\u2019s a bit more annoying but also isolates stuff like photos etc. by default, so you don\u2019t have to think about it.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "LineageOS 24"}, {"id": 800625105, "item_id": 50039069, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50039069", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-10-11", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Here it's all WhatsApp and Telegram.", "excerpt": "Maybe that's regional but here in Spain it's very popular for clubs. We use it for our makerspace and also for several other clubs. The moderation and access tools are way better than WhatsApp's. It's not end to end encrypted but for big group channels that anyone can join that doesn't really matter. Here it's all WhatsApp and Telegram. iMessage isn't really a thing at all except for expats. Because most locals use s", "context": "in Spain, runs makerspace group", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen"}, {"id": 800502864, "item_id": 50031429, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50031429", "by": "lxgr", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Knowing the provider can\u2019t mine my message data more than makes up for that.", "excerpt": "I use them daily, so we might just have different priorities. Bot access is definitely better in Telegram; that\u2019s what I sometimes use it for. WhatsApp has voice message transcription now, but fortunately I don\u2019t receive many. (I consider it pretty rude to put the effort of messaging on the recipient because the sender can\u2019t be bothered to type or transcribe on their side.) Everything else you mentioned is a minor in", "context": "uses both daily", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen"}, {"id": 800495216, "item_id": 50030951, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50030951", "by": "lxgr", "date": "2026-10-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use both Telegram and WhatsApp and I haven\u2019t found anything lacking in the latter, UX wise.", "excerpt": "What a bizarre threat model. Why would you rather have your data with who knows who than just your metadata? And what UX problems exactly is Telegram solving that its many competitors aren\u2019t? I hear this all the time, but I use both Telegram and WhatsApp and I haven\u2019t found anything lacking in the latter, UX wise.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen"}, {"id": 799036769, "item_id": 49939798, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49939798", "by": "orwin", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "often on discord, sometimes on whatsapp/signal", "excerpt": "Yeah, i think it's not only social media platform. I used to read a lot of bad fiction on internet (sometimes it was _really_ good, but most of the time, not), and it took a large part of my time (easily 2 hours a day, plus one hour of reading paper book to help me fall asleep). Nowadays i have the impression almost everything is AI-enhanced. Shorter sentences, quips for no reason, lack of details. It makes dialogs a", "context": "", "use_case": "small communities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Everyone's Packing Up"}, {"id": 798176881, "item_id": 49886055, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49886055", "by": "nerevarthelame", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Now we just send boring messages on WhatsApp.", "excerpt": "As an adult, I used Google Sheets as a group chat among my friends. We had different employers with different internet restrictions. Before that we used a self-hosted Telnet chat server, until someone's employer blocked that. It was a lot more fun than Discord, Slack, or any other dedicated chat client. With Sheets, we'd do fun little gags and bits in the spreadsheets. Everything ended up being really personalized an", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging friends", "switched_from": "Google Sheets", "story": "Kids turned low-traffic NPR Spotify comments into a secret group chat"}, {"id": 795349856, "item_id": 49709366, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49709366", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I am using Whatsapp and I MUST have some SMS app in phone", "excerpt": "implement SMS into your whatever Android app I am using Whatsapp and I MUST have some SMS app in phone, if your app will support SMS and on top of that will provide Jabber/XMPP messages over data I will be more than happy to replace my SMS app with your app. Sadly seems there is pretty much NONE apps where dev would bother to implement support for simple SMS. And if your app doesn't support SMS I am not going to inst", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Jabber/XMPP: How Do We Gain Traction?"}, {"id": 791866048, "item_id": 49491628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49491628", "by": "porridgeraisin", "date": "2026-08-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use whatsapp primarily", "excerpt": "I use whatsapp primarily, so no tethering needed, but SMS of course for one-time passwords and the like. I didn't want to open my phone for that. So I had a coding agent write an android background app for me that listens for SMS and forwards it to a discord server, and side loaded it. So now I get a discord notif on my laptop with the OTP.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tether: iMessage, SMS, etc. on Linux"}, {"id": 791569024, "item_id": 49473064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49473064", "by": "lbebber", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "In Brazil, communications do run entirely on WhatsApp", "excerpt": "In Brazil, communications do run entirely on WhatsApp, but payments are entirely on Pix. Also I rememeber when there was a Meta-wide outage, and people switched to Telegram within the day, so the stranglehold they have might not be that strong.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta Paid $17B \u2013 Gets to Write Safety Rules for Other SocMedia Platform"}, {"id": 790349040, "item_id": 49396815, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49396815", "by": "pmontra", "date": "2026-08-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I also sent a few pictures to some friends of mine on WhatsApp when I was still travelling.", "excerpt": "I really didn't know about Polarsteps. It's been a while since my last long journey. I used to select some pictures when I got back home and upload them to both my website and Facebook (the only time in the year I still used FB.) I also sent a few pictures to some friends of mine on WhatsApp when I was still travelling.", "context": "", "use_case": "sharing travel photos", "switched_from": "", "story": "4 in 10 travellers visit tourist sites to capture social media content"}, {"id": 788104192, "item_id": 49256512, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49256512", "by": "rr808", "date": "2026-08-11", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use on Messenger and Whatsapp much more often for voice calls", "excerpt": "Me too. The problem is now I trust Meta with much of this instead of the FCC which is awkward for me. I use on Messenger and Whatsapp much more often for voice calls, and you know exactly who is calling.", "context": "", "use_case": "voice calls", "switched_from": "", "story": "France to ban unsolicited telemarketing calls"}, {"id": 786922673, "item_id": 49182667, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49182667", "by": "nxtbl", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "That's a hard no.", "excerpt": "> We use a WhatsApp group for co-ordination. The time and location of the meetup is announced there. That's a hard no. You really, really should use Signal instead.", "context": "", "use_case": "group coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup"}, {"id": 786907712, "item_id": 49181732, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181732", "by": "theshrike79", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "WhatsApp messages I get immediately.", "excerpt": "Dunno if it's a generational thing or what, but I check my email like maybe once a day sometimes I can go 2-3 days without looking at it. It's just a place where Stuff gathers and I go through it when I Get around to it. Can't even remember when I used email to actually communicate with a non-business entity outside of work. WhatsApp messages I get immediately.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup"}, {"id": 786897520, "item_id": 49181095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49181095", "by": "BonerWiener", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...", "excerpt": "> We use a WhatsApp group for co-ordination I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...", "context": "", "use_case": "group coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup"}, {"id": 786891441, "item_id": 49180715, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49180715", "by": "glimshe", "date": "2026-08-05", "stance": "warn", "quote": "a running WhatsApp app prevented the WhatsApp update process to finish", "excerpt": "I really wanted to hear the opinion from Mac diehards about modern MacOS. I've used Windows for decades but bought a Mac M2 a while ago. I really like it so I'm not trying to say \"Apple Bad\". But I'm yet to see Apple's legendary simplicity, minimalism and attention to detail. I keep complaining about the fact Mac OS asks me whether I want to allow chrome to access the local network with every update. I tried to dig d", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "\"Gravity is worth asking about.\""}, {"id": 786775760, "item_id": 49173485, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49173485", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-08-04", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Next morning I wake up with Whatsapp account blocked", "excerpt": "This exactly happened to me as well in beginning of July when I dared to contact my airbnb host from different country directly from web.whatsapp on computer just after adding their contact.. Immediately saw Restricted messages, but once they answered we chatted normally and everything worked fine. Next morning I wake up with Whatsapp account blocked (one day before flight, very convenient timing...), so immediately ", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "People are mysteriously disappearing off WhatsApp"}, {"id": 785408896, "item_id": 49088056, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49088056", "by": "chistev", "date": "2026-07-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it.", "excerpt": "I don't know. I lost my Facebook account because they suspended me for \"integrity issues\". I tried and failed to appeal successfully. I was pissed at first because I had had that account for over a decade, but after some months, I was glad to have lost it. I don't use Instagram. I only use Twitter now. Reddit on read-only mode. WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it. But I'm considering taki", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What will it take you to shift to a new social media platform?"}, {"id": 784292896, "item_id": 49018306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49018306", "by": "Markoff", "date": "2026-07-23", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "though Whatsapp works (my personal experience from last summer) for ordinary messages (they just may be delayed), messages with attachments are blocked.", "excerpt": "Just got notice from one of my clients, though I rely on e-mail anyway, they claim Whatsapp/Telegram is blocked in China, though Whatsapp works (my personal experience from last summer) for ordinary messages (they just may be delayed), messages with attachments are blocked.", "context": "has clients in China, relies on email", "use_case": "messaging in China", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Teams will be blocked in China from July 28th 2026"}, {"id": 782900161, "item_id": 48931260, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48931260", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The biggest issue is whatsapp for now.", "excerpt": "Well my family doesn't live in the same country and most of my friends I don't see every day yet I communicate with them daily. Same with the communities I'm in, they're really active online. And all my stuff is connected yes but not through big tech cloud. It is pretty easy to avoid all that. I use home assistant and I buy stuff specifically because it supports local connectivity. The biggest issue is whatsapp for n", "context": "avoids big tech cloud", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Guerrilla London Bus Ads Mock Kylie Jenner's Meta Glasses Campaign"}, {"id": 782868705, "item_id": 48929294, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48929294", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "For private chats I use WhatsApp yes.", "excerpt": "For a lot of stuff it doesn't really matter whether it's E2EE though. I use it for bots that transfer information that isn't secret and for large public channels that everyone can join as they wish anyway. For private chats I use WhatsApp yes. But telegram has its uses. Why does it matter that telegram can see your local bus times that are published online anyway?", "context": "", "use_case": "private chats", "switched_from": "", "story": "Telegram Serverless"}, {"id": 782831616, "item_id": 48926976, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48926976", "by": "Krasnol", "date": "2026-07-15", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Whatsapp only because I have to.", "excerpt": "I agree on all the content related things but your argument was about speed. I use whatsapp web every day at work. The page. In my Firefox browser. It's almost constantly open. Never had any issues with that. The phone app just does what it's supposed to do and even on my Pixel6, it's just fast. I mean there is always faster but it's not even a second. I use Whatsapp only because I have to. Privately, I prefer Signal", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging at work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mysteries of Telegram Data Centers"}, {"id": 782298945, "item_id": 48893684, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48893684", "by": "TacticalCoder", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "at least it's not the Zuck's FaceBook/Instagram/WhatsApp exploitative ecosystem", "excerpt": "> Part of me hopes that we got back to the late 1990s dedicated websites/forums. That seems to be the Discord model but let's see. Dunno: people in my circles all have Telegram (Europe here but I think they have 1 billion MAU now: they're not just successful in Europe). I've got Telegram groups depending on my interests. I just got invited to try ball trap (clay pidgeon shooting) tomorrow. Then another group set up a", "context": "Europe-based user", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media"}, {"id": 782226817, "item_id": 48889176, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48889176", "by": "jandrewrogers", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use WhatsApp daily but only people overseas use it.", "excerpt": "This is empirically false. I am on many groups that have (at least) several dozen people over SMS/RCS/iMessage. It isn\u2019t ideal but it definitely works adequately. I use Signal with some groups but that is a minority. I use WhatsApp daily but only people overseas use it. Many Americans have no idea what WhatsApp is. The practical reality is that iMessage is a legitimately superior experience to other messaging apps, a", "context": "has spent a lot of time overseas", "use_case": "messaging people overseas", "switched_from": "", "story": "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media"}, {"id": 782152144, "item_id": 48884509, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48884509", "by": "wolvoleo", "date": "2026-07-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain.", "excerpt": "WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain. Telegram a strong second. The rest non-existent. Though I use discord for global reach interest groups. Never for local communities. Small ones are always on WhatsApp. Big ones usually telegram.", "context": "lives in Spain", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media"}, {"id": 781803328, "item_id": 48862708, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48862708", "by": "BoingBoomTschak", "date": "2026-07-10", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "you can sideload Whatsapp which I sadly need", "excerpt": "I switched to a Kyocera KY-42C specifically because you can sideload Whatsapp which I sadly need. The software is a bit crappy but enough if you just want to phone and rarely SMS, Whatsapp or e-mail. Don't forget about the other stuff usually handled by smartphones, like music (my old Sansa Clip+ still works) or GPS (the one in my car will do).", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging on a basic phone", "switched_from": "", "story": "Study: \"Mommy, do you love your phone more than me?\""}, {"id": 781290048, "item_id": 48830628, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48830628", "by": "retired", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I use WhatsApp to contact the municipality, the GP uses it to send my blood results and package delivery drivers ask me to share my location. I hate it.", "excerpt": "Meanwhile in Spain I use WhatsApp to contact the municipality, the GP uses it to send my blood results and package delivery drivers ask me to share my location. I hate it.", "context": "Lives in Spain", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "List of European organizations that have banned personal messaging apps at work"}, {"id": 779489504, "item_id": 48718094, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48718094", "by": "graemep", "date": "2026-06-29", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "its still a lot cheaper to use Whatsapp than either SMS or voice calls", "excerpt": "I pay for an internet connection anyway. Even if I use a pay as you go mobile connection (on which the telco makes a profit) its still a lot cheaper to use Whatsapp than either SMS or voice calls. There is no subsidy, its telecoms companies making a ridiculously high margin (aimed by regulators in some countries) on some services.", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging and calls", "switched_from": "", "story": "My main Android phone is now 99% Google free"}, {"id": 776878704, "item_id": 48554919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48554919", "by": "baggachipz", "date": "2026-06-16", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano.", "excerpt": "I like the idea, but I have major problems with their inclusion of Meta-owned WhatsApp. Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano. That said, I understand why they include it as much of the world uses it as the default for some reason I still can't understand. Anyway, I love the idea and would use something like this if it allowed me to choose a configuration at order time which could", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Commodore Releases Flip Phone"}, {"id": 773615120, "item_id": 48350945, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48350945", "by": "danpalmer", "date": "2026-05-31", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends.", "excerpt": "I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends. I'm also happy to pay for things that improve my experience. ...but it's unclear what this subscription would give me. The announcement has no real details, the article is light on detail, and the WhatsApp website has no mention of this subscription. I get that it's hard. What I want is a good text and call app, and that's hard to charge for at s", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging family and friends", "switched_from": "", "story": "Meta launches Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp subscriptions"}, {"id": 770713553, "item_id": 48169597, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48169597", "by": "microtonal", "date": "2026-05-17", "stance": "warn", "quote": "by default when backups are enabled, they are stored unencrypted in Google Drive", "excerpt": "I think my message wooshed. I was not comparing disk encryption and iCloud backups. My point is that insecure defaults are Apple and other's alternative to backdoors. They give plausible deniability (\"how is someone able to recover their data if they lost their credentials and we used E2E?\"), while at the same time satisfying law enforcement, because the vast majority of people is not aware of them. Another example i", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Security researcher says Microsoft built a Bitlocker backdoor, releases exploit"}, {"id": 766557361, "item_id": 47909835, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47909835", "by": "thom-gtdp", "date": "2026-04-26", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "to send to myself between devices: Whatsapp", "excerpt": "To send to other people: Proton drive, to send to myself between devices: Whatsapp", "context": "", "use_case": "sending files between own devices", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What file sharing apps do you guys use?"}, {"id": 766467976, "item_id": 47904248, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47904248", "by": "gverrilla", "date": "2026-04-25", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "a for whatsapp", "excerpt": "I use hyprland. And I navigate with ALT+? commands for the main apps I use, and alt+tab strictly to go back to previous workspace. I also have a task bar that I can also click to navigate when I need (on waybar). I love it. I'm never in some intermediate state like a view of all my workspaces, or holding alt tab to choose some workspace - it's always a single hotkey stroke. I also have 3 special workspaces that use a", "context": "", "use_case": "messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Niri 26.04 was just released (scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor)"}, {"id": 764460224, "item_id": 47778764, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47778764", "by": "JimmaDaRustla", "date": "2026-04-15", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It was a bureaucratic nightmare", "excerpt": "I tried creating a whatsapp \"bot\" which would just send notifications for my Jellyfin server. It was a bureaucratic nightmare - creating dev accounts, creating some sort of \"project\", then it was requiring I register it as a business as though the only valid use case for creating an app for WhatsApp is a business, then it required me to verify my identify and upload documents. I just switched to Signal.", "context": "", "use_case": "bot for Jellyfin notifications", "switched_from": "", "story": "Peter Steinberger \u2013 WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send"}, {"id": 755438705, "item_id": 47214919, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47214919", "by": "10729287", "date": "2026-03-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I want group messages without having to install Whatsapp", "excerpt": "Back in the days, I switched from Iphone 3G to Motorola Defy in order to benefit from more customisation. I'm now back into Apple ecosystem since iPhone 6, actually on iPhone 13 but i'm very tempted by GrapheneOS. Going back to Motorola would please me, as I loved this little Defy. Do you think there's any chance to have RCS messages without Google involved ? I want group messages without having to install Whatsapp a", "context": "", "use_case": "group messaging", "switched_from": "", "story": "Motorola announces a partnership with GrapheneOS Foundation"}, {"id": 753835568, "item_id": 47114723, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47114723", "by": "tibbydudeza", "date": "2026-02-22", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups", "excerpt": "Interesting but it assumes the teens will bother to look at it. We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups and who needs what from the shops or the pharmacy (they are on our healthcare plan) and general conversation about events or troubles and parental advice in their lives. One kid live on her own with her bf a few minutes from us but she can't drive so we sometimes have to pick her up fro", "context": "parent", "use_case": "family coordination", "switched_from": "", "story": "I built Timeframe, our family e-paper dashboard"}, {"id": 753223511, "item_id": 47076469, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47076469", "by": "andsoitis", "date": "2026-02-19", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Oura, Netflix, Brain.fm, Wise, Tidal, Claude, Safari, WhatsApp", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the nicest apps you use day to day?"}]}