This may sound a bit dumb, but eh.
So when that WhatsApp privacy policy change thing happened in early 2021, I tried switching from WhatsApp to Signal and Telegram. Telegram kinda stuck with me since i still get news from there, but Signal… not really because I didn’t care about privacy back then. Now, I want to make the switch from WhatsApp to Signal, and I have a few plans on how to do that. But, is it worth it, since most people in Türkiye use Whatsapp and even if I switch my family and friends over to Signal, they’ll still use WhatsApp since most people are on there.
So, yeah. Should i try, or is it not worth doing? Let me know, also, thanks in advance!
(Note: Most of my family and friends don’t really care about privacy.)
(Note 2: This was also posted in r/signal and r/privacy subreddits.)
You don’t need to, as facebook, messenger , whatsapp, imessage, and Telegram will be forced by the EU to interoperate with Signal and other messengers in about six months. (for now only text chat no voip in sight)
I didn’t know that :o
Would you have a relevant link to share so I can learn more about it please ?
Well, Meta can still do their practices though. And I fear it will be even worse since they can know when you texted, who you texted, where you texted, for how long you texted in WA and i fear this will spread to other platforms too.
Would Google Duo also need to interoperate? (Or did they remove the allo from duo again, or what was the text chat app again?)
I don’t know which google product they will make interoperate. what I know is that google is already working on implementing this. Teams will probably made to. in the early stages, I read that one criteria to be designated a gate keeper is to have more than 50 million users.
If the people you know and care about use it, you don’t need WA. Plus, it trains them in it. You cannot always change the world, but you can change your part of it.
I got my family and partner on Signal. I don’t care if they use WA. I don’t have to. They seem confident with it now.
I don’t use WhatsApp since 2017 If someone wants to talk to me it must download Signal or no deal.
Harsh, but effective. I chose a slightly softer strategy. I communicate with family/friends on Signal, and for work/with strangers on Telegram. WhatsApp is a thing of the past. Quit there and told everyone that I won’t answer there anymore. Trash.
I second this, highly effective method that I strongly recommend, deleted WA and I’m now only on TG
WhatsApp is such garbage. No normal privacy, no convenience, no normal backups, no features. Just such a mmmeeehhhhh
I think it’s worth it.
Just simply send a link along with that’s generally better and that lots of people are moving over. Watomatic could be looked into as a way to automatically remind people you are on signal when they go to Facebook you. It would then prompt then to install signal.
I take the attitude if they want to contact me either, phone, email or text.
I was in a similar spot and gave up before starting. This is due to several reasons: 1) My circle of relatives and friends, like yours, neglect their privacy and would not engage with me in a serious conversation regarding it; 2) educational institutions, businesses, organisations and even governmental bodies may rely on WhatsApp for communications; and 3) the two big telecom monopolies offer enticing mobile data deals for using WhatsApp.
While I am not saying you should give up, you should go for modest goals (e.g. converting your close family to signal when chatting together) and eliminate optimistic expectations so you don’t get crushed.
The few people I had using it won’t use it anymore since Signal dropped sms. Best I have been able to do now is talk to people with iMessage.
Well that’s odd, as iOS Signal never supported SMS, and Android phones don’t support iMessage, only SMS.
