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-   -   WhatsApp and its effect on our lives (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadgets-computers-software/185289-whatsapp-its-effect-our-lives-8.html)

The issue with archiving is that you have it as the topmost folder when you open the app and it will show all the unread chats count. Some of us are obsessive about keeping everything in read status so we end up opening the archive folder everytime. It defeats the very purpose of archiving, if you have to keep going back to it every time.

The locked chats approch is much better as the chat folder itself stays hidden and any chats that have unread messages are not bothering you. It is another matter that Meta did not intend it to be used this way.

Monopolies come about because we consent to them, and the world has consented to Whatsapp. Including me.

I have dozens, hundreds maybe, of active contacts on Whatsapp: I have two on Signal :disappointed. One of those I have fallen out with, and the other is a visitor from abroad and we only use it while he is here. To be honest, if he would install Whatsapp, I'd, with sadness, scrap Signal. Hey-ho, who knows what may come, what meta might do: Signal's day might yet come.

I do not use AI as an alternative to google. I don't trust it. In fact, at long last, I switched my default browser to DuckDuckGo. But that's another story :)

WhatsApp as a communication tool is incredible. Even an illiterate person not at all well versed with technology is able to use it with ease. Moreover, it is an incredibly effective tool for e-commerce.

Now that Meta has taken over WhatsApp, it has increased its effectiveness even more, given the data sharing between Meta and WhatsApp. Targeting potential customers and effectively communicating with the current ones has become too efficient to say the least.

I am not discussing the privacy part here. Just the utility of WhatsApp. I have been using WhatsApp even before Android came into existence and WhatsApp was launched in the "app store" or whatever it was called for Symbian devices. There were no contacts there, no friends to talk to. But I liked what WhatsApp offered, the ease of use and the top notch text delivery even on slow internet compared to other peer apps of the era.

When it was newly released, the mobile battery drain issue because of continuously running WhatsApp in the background was a big nightmare, it got solved, if I remember correctly, in 1 or 2 years. Mostly when Android and WhatsApp embraced each other.

Right now, Instagram, Facebook & WhatsApp integrate almost seamlessly for businesses which use e-commerce/digital domain and it brings altogether a different sales/service channel, never seen before. It is indeed a boon for small and big businesses alike.

I haven't used DuckDuckGo browser but use TOR/Edge/Chrome/Firefox/Brave/Opera almost on a daily basis.

Each person has his of her unique needs, Firefox comes handy when certain features are unavailable on say Chromium based browser, for eg some "inspect element" to be done for say an OSINT activity. Chrome might not be best for such a usage.

For a normal user, any browser nowadays is more or less same. The one with a favourite UI is best for oneself.

Apart from Signal, the one app that I really liked but never took of is Briar. It works even without internet, is fully encrypted and foremost in maintaining privacy.

Google Messages which comes pre-installed on Android phones, though not a complete alternate to WhatsApp, is a viable option for communicating with those who are not on WhatsApp.

Advantages:

• Default on Android phones (Google Messages may need to be installed on iPhones)
• it is basically an SMS app. So you can read and manage your SMS (for example, bank notifications).
• Web version available. Easier to read on the computer and quickly delete all those notifications from banks etc.
• RCS features provide all the emojis, image embedding and such stuff for your personal 1-1 chats, rare as that may be :)
• 1-1 chats are E2E encrypted.

With multi-media support? That was the thing that made Whatsapp: the ability to "share" (how I hate the overuse of that word, Just thought I'd share that with you ;) ) photos and film clips, etc etc easily.
I guess that's a yes, then?

Yes, you can embed images, files, location etc though I am not sure how the receiver would see it if they don't have an RCS supported app.

A problem with RCS is, it’s carrier dependent? Not every carrier in every country supports it. Something to keep in mind if the other party you want to chat with, is not on Android/supported carrier.

That's sort of like saying mamba bite is a viable alternative to cobra bite. The big problem with WhatsApp is owner Meta's poor record of privacy protection; what's the point switching to a Google product whose record is nothing to write home about?

The only alternative worth considering is Signal. Unfortunately, until the world recognises its importance we will be stuck with WhatsApp.

lol: and very true. Well put.

Signal is the tailor-made (by the same tailors) alternative. But most people will never have the desire to change, so yep: you can catch me on Whatsapp.

RCS is supported even on iPhones with iOS18; however, like you said, I do not know if any carriers in India have started supporting it; so as long as they don't, it will not work, even on Android.

Cheers

Just be warned guys, enabling RCS will lead to a lot of SPAM messages. I had enabled this on a Nothing phone and just couldn't get it to stop. After browsing a lot of Reddit threads, came to know that this is because of RCS. I later turned this off.

Recently also saw a lot of other content (text/Youtube videos) about the same. It seems, it's a very common and a big problem across carriers and devices. It fixed a problem I guess, but created new ones.

RCS's e2e encryption also seems iffy. As far as I can tell - it has to be the same app on both ends (Google Messenger, Apple iMessenge etc.) for e2e encryption to work.

Ref1: https://thehackernews.com/2024/09/gs...ption-for.html

Ref2: https://www.androidpolice.com/end-to...n-months-away/

Tech guys in TBHP, need help. For the past few days, WhatsApp is not showing up as an option when I want to forward something from a different app. Like, a pdf downloaded from mail, when i check options to forward, WhatsApp isn't showing up. I've to save the file, and then open WhatsApp, open the chat and attach from there. Need help! Tried reinstalling Whatsapp, no good. Its the same for all doc types.