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.

whatsapp is e2e encrypted

So before you can message anyone you have to download whatsapp?

Yes and almost everyone around the world outside China and the USA does that. WhatsApp has 2 billion users.

It must be so difficult to spend 2 whole seconds downloading an app to use for messaging. and yes it’s end to end encrypted too.

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.

WhatsApp is also E2E and backup can also be encrypted (Atleast on Android).

I just hope we can Interoperability b/w Signal and WhatsApp.

iMessage is preinstalled

The whole point is: it isn’t more often than not. And unlike Whatsapp, you can’t even install it.

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.

So before you can message anyone you have to download whatsapp?

I love how this seems like a near insurmountable hurdle. Install an app?? On a phone?!

I have a relative who is ~85 years old; he uses WhatsApp. It’s really not that hard.

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)

Might be different in other countries, but in Germany its only used by them.

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.

Nobody in europe that has an iphone uses imsg as their primary anything. Because Europe is an android dominated market.

Do you really want to know how dead iMessage is in Europe? I was on iPhone for 4 full years, with bunch of friends and colleagues with them as well. I never even knew that it was anything but SMS app - that no one uses. Everything is on other applications, and SMS is just for automated messages and like 5th backup communications method if nothing else is available

What you said was bullshit lol

iMessage is barely used