Considering leaving WhatsApp? 5 alternatives worth knowing about

Everyone is talking about Signal and Telegram, but there are other options that are not bad at all. Which is the most convenient? Which is the most secure? And where would we have to do without emojis?

Have you thought about what our lives would be like without WhatsApp? So without the stickers, viral memes and uncle’s jokes, we could still somehow survive. But the truth is that the world’s most popular messaging app has become an essential part of our private and business daily lives; in fact, the human interaction of more than a billion users in 180 countries.

But recently something went wrong in the pipeline that connects us to the world: Facebook announced an update to its privacy policy, so that information about WhatsApp users will be shared with the other platforms in the group – Facebook, its Messenger and Instagram. The immediate goal is marketing – targeted advertising, aimed at specific habits and tastes. But some fear that the end-to-end encryption loophole, which Facebook promised to maintain when it acquired WhatsApp in 2014 and separate it from the group, will also wink at hackers and government officials.

The change was announced at the beginning of the year and was scheduled to take effect in February. Following the public outcry, the date was postponed until late spring, and the company clarified that the sharing only concerns metadata and not the content of the correspondence. But the frenzy has already begun in the app stores: within a week, according to research firm Sensor Tower, 7.5 million installations of the Signal app were recorded – 43 times more than the week before. Telegram was downloaded more than 5.5 million times in one weekend. Meanwhile, a survey for Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that 20% of Israelis already use one of the main competitors and 51% are considering switching. However, for now, there is no sign of a mass phenomenon of removing WhatsApp from smartphones. The public may be angry and upset, but they are in no hurry to abandon it.

So what are the alternatives, what are the advantages and disadvantages, and what does each one know how to do?

Signal

The Signal app is seen as the main refuge for those disappointed with WhatsApp. Like it, it is a free app, very simple to use, allows video and audio calls, works on all smartphones and also provides access from the desktop. In terms of information security, messages sent on Signal are encrypted, accessible only to the sender and recipient and unreadable to hackers. The encryption is open source, which allows information security experts to consistently test it and detect failures and hacks. A popular feature offers users to send a message that will disappear automatically after a specified period of time. This is to further enhance privacy, even in the event that another party gains access to the phone. Emojis are not embedded in the system, but they can be imported from an external source.

Telegram

Telegram, a cloud-based messaging app, gained popularity even before the current trend, with more than 200 million active users. Here, encryption is default for voice calls, but requires manual activation for messages. Telegram is applicable to a variety of devices and platforms and supports sending files and videos. Like Signal, it allows you to instruct in advance to delete a message after a certain time. And like WhatsApp, it marks messages that have already been read by the other party with two lines.

Wire

Wire is considered an especially secure messaging app, with the ability to have high-quality calls and video calls without interruptions. Personal accounts are free, but business accounts are paid and include unique support and features. Wire allows screen sharing with one person or a group and supports file sharing. It is available on all major platforms, and can be accessed from eight different synchronized devices. Its dictation is considered advanced compared to its competitors and includes the option of bold or italic text, editing lists, and adjusting the font size for sharing. Here too, you can schedule a time in advance to delete messages.

Riot.IM

The Riot app is different in that, to allow anonymity, instead of relying on a phone number, each user receives an ID – a unique name or nickname – and uses it to log in to the system. It runs on an open-source infrastructure, so developers can and are even invited to make changes to it. The idea was to create a flexible, accessible, interactive, and secure system, aimed primarily at development teams and less at organizations. Riot includes separate chat rooms, with the option to close a room and allow entry only to link holders, as well as public chat rooms that any user can visit. The user interface in the desktop version is particularly friendly. Wire supports video and audio calls, and its messages are end-to-end encrypted. It is available in seven languages ​​and can interface with and enable connections from within other apps.

Threema

If concerns about sharing information are top of mind for you, Threema, which came from Switzerland, known for its strict approach to the subject, may be a good solution. Here, all data, from contact details to group memberships, is stored locally on the smartphone and not in the app. Messages are deleted immediately after they are sent, you can contact a contact using an eight-character code instead of a phone number, and you can verify the identity of contacts with a QR code. Every connection in Threema – messages, calls, video calls, group chats, file sharing, and even your personal status message – is end-to-end encrypted. Threads can be hidden or locked with a password. You can send files and location, and there are also unique features such as conducting surveys and “liking” messages in the chat.

But with all due respect to encryption and pyrotechnics, a prerequisite for any messaging app is that the person we’re looking for will actually be there. And habits, as we know, are hard to break. Therefore, it’s not impossible that even if we switch to one of the alternatives, we’ll still pop over to WhatsApp to close a corner with the guys, check in with the family, and, of course, read the uncle’s latest blurb.