Meta-owned messaging app for text chats, group chats, and voice and video calls.
Used for everyday chat with family, friends and local groups because nearly everyone is on it,1234 and some value that the provider can't mine message contents.5 The most common complaint is Meta ownership and privacy,678 with several saying they use it only because they have to.91011
Why people recommend it
Everyone uses it · 3
Commenters say it is where most of their contacts and local groups already are, especially outside the US.
“WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it.”
“WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain.”
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“In Brazil, communications do run entirely on WhatsApp”
Family chat · 3
Used as the main channel for keeping in touch with family and friends.
“I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends.”
“We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups”
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“There are dumb phones with whatsapp and you can share images on whatsapp too!”
Calls · 2
Used for voice calls and group calls.
“I will note that we use WhatsApp for group calls.”
“I use on Messenger and Whatsapp much more often for voice calls”
Works smoothly · 2
Users report the web and phone apps are fast and the UX lacks nothing compared with Telegram.
“I use Whatsapp only because I have to.”
“I use both Telegram and WhatsApp and I haven’t found anything lacking in the latter, UX wise.”
Message privacy · 1
One user values that the provider can't mine message data.
“Knowing the provider can’t mine my message data more than makes up for that.”
Business reach · 1
One company switched delivery notifications to it after RCS reached too few devices.
“So we switched to WhatsApp.”
Caveats and dissent
Meta ownership · 3
Many object to using a Meta-owned service for privacy reasons.
“I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...”
“Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano.”
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“at least it's not the Zuck's FaceBook/Instagram/WhatsApp exploitative ecosystem”
Forced to use · 3
Several use it only because others do and would rather not.
“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.”
“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.”
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“I use Whatsapp only because I have to.”
Multi-device and keys · 3
Device linking is called annoying, and history can become unreadable or lost when switching phones.
“same with WhatsApp super annoying linking between mobile and desktop”
“The fact that whatsapp, signal and other platforms tend to have a primary device for keys is bonkers to me.”
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“old messages weren't readable. They needed to do a key exchange with other participant but it never seemed to ever render.”
Account blocks · 1
One user's account was blocked after messaging a new contact from WhatsApp Web.
“Next morning I wake up with Whatsapp account blocked”
Unencrypted backups · 1
On Android, backups are stored unencrypted in Google Drive by default.
“by default when backups are enabled, they are stored unencrypted in Google Drive”
Developer API hurdles · 1
Building a simple notification bot required business registration and identity verification.
“It was a bureaucratic nightmare”
Often compared with
1 moved from WhatsApp to Signal
1 moved from WhatsApp to Telegram
1 moved from Google Sheets to WhatsAppXMPP3 comments mention both
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Telegram Desktop vulnerability allowed any user's file to be stolen 3 mentions
- Helsinki Hacker News Meetup 3 mentions
- Death of the Status Update: Why 55% of Americans Stopped Posting on Social Media 3 mentions
- Molly (Signal fork) has not been updated since 3 months and is vulnerable 1 mention
- The No Kings Takedown Is Why You Shouldn't Rent Your Megaphone from Zuck 1 mention
- IRCv3 1 mention
Data: whatsapp.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 40
“same with WhatsApp super annoying linking between mobile and desktop”
“I use signal, whatsapp, discord, irc, google chat, email and messenger without complaint.”
“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.”
“I will note that we use WhatsApp for group calls.”
“I use it e.g. WhatsApp, where I just need three people”
“Here it's all WhatsApp and Telegram.”
“Knowing the provider can’t mine my message data more than makes up for that.”
“I use both Telegram and WhatsApp and I haven’t found anything lacking in the latter, UX wise.”
“often on discord, sometimes on whatsapp/signal”
“Now we just send boring messages on WhatsApp.”
“I am using Whatsapp and I MUST have some SMS app in phone”
“I use whatsapp primarily”
“In Brazil, communications do run entirely on WhatsApp”
“I also sent a few pictures to some friends of mine on WhatsApp when I was still travelling.”
“I use on Messenger and Whatsapp much more often for voice calls”
“That's a hard no.”
“WhatsApp messages I get immediately.”
“I would've gladly joined if you hadn't decided on a service owned by Meta...”
“a running WhatsApp app prevented the WhatsApp update process to finish”
“Next morning I wake up with Whatsapp account blocked”
“WhatsApp to talk to people since everyone and their mom is on it.”
“though Whatsapp works (my personal experience from last summer) for ordinary messages (they just may be delayed), messages with attachments are blocked.”
“The biggest issue is whatsapp for now.”
“For private chats I use WhatsApp yes.”
“I use Whatsapp only because I have to.”
“at least it's not the Zuck's FaceBook/Instagram/WhatsApp exploitative ecosystem”
“I use WhatsApp daily but only people overseas use it.”
“WhatsApp is paramount here in Spain.”
“you can sideload Whatsapp which I sadly need”
“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.”
“its still a lot cheaper to use Whatsapp than either SMS or voice calls”
“Any company which cares about privacy should throw WhatsApp into a volcano.”
“I use WhatsApp for almost all my communication with family and friends.”
“by default when backups are enabled, they are stored unencrypted in Google Drive”
“to send to myself between devices: Whatsapp”
“a for whatsapp”
“It was a bureaucratic nightmare”
“I want group messages without having to install Whatsapp”
“We use a WhatsApp channel for our family to manage breakfast meetups”
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