Multiple messaging are apps available, but dethroning WhatsApp can be an arduous quest for any platform
After WhatsApp announced its decision to revise privacy policy, (which would share user data across every Facebook-owned company), the users have constantly expressed frustration over this decision, and many have claimed to switch to a different platform that respects their privacy, unlike WhatsApp.
There are multiple apps available, which can be your next potential 'messaging app', but dethroning WhatsApp can be an arduous quest for any platform because of its staggering number of around 400 million active Indian users and other 1.5 billion across the globe.
They have survived the siege of Hike, WeChat, Line, Google's Allo, and many more, yet they still stand unscathed until their revised privacy policy got introduced, and this is the crack on which other platforms need to hit hard to gain a piece of the users' pie.
No one wants WhatsApp to become an 'Indian aunty who wants to know everything about us, from our spending to where have we been and share those things with her friends (Facebook-owned companies).'
We have shortlisted a few of our picks based on privacy, user experience, and performance.
Telegram
The user interface is clean and simple and it also has a few neat features in terms of customisation, where you can alter the app icon, theme, and accent colour of the app. Here you can add up to three accounts with different phone numbers. For your privacy concerns, the only data linked with you is the name, phone number, contact, and user ID.
Not only WhatsApp but OTT platforms also should consider it as a strong competitor because of its whole community-driven groups, where you can download pretty much any movie and web series. Although we do not recommend downloading pirated movies from anywhere, it lets the app stand apart from its competitors.
Signal
Say 'hello' to privacy. Their share price along with the number of users has gone up by a lot, they have topped download charts for multiple countries. Signal has earned a lot of support of love from netizens lately for sure. Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey, and even America's whistleblower Edward Snowden, all of them prefer using Signal over any other messaging app, because of its open-source peer reviewed code.
Throughout the app, they have a minimal user interface, which we are a huge fan of. They have shared a sneak peek of some new features that will roll out in the next few day's which includes chat wallpapers, about field for your profile, and animated stickers. They have also raised the group call limit from five to eight users, so now you can call it even. The only data linked with you is the phone number that's it.
Session
As suggested by its name the app creates a session ID for you, which can be shared with your peers to add you to their inbox, you do not even need a phone number to sign up. It has a disappearing message mode and an inbuilt onion routing network to mask your IP address too and there's nothing linked to you. Nothing.
Developers have taken a brilliant approach to the application. It feels like it came straight out of Wayne enterprises for Batman, but its strength is a weakness too and the app can be finicky for some users to adopt.
iMessage
If you have an Apple device, then this should be your go-to messaging app, it works seamlessly across your multiple devices It has animoji, digital touch, and messages can be even sent out with effects too.
Apple is one of the companies which has committed relentlessly to privacy and the data linked with you is your phone number, email address, and device ID.
Conclusion
The overused expression, 'data is the new oil,' best summarises the value of data in the global economy. However, unlike oil, the laws of ownership are grim in the case of data. If a customer exchanges their data with a corporation, they lose control of it.
Our pick is Signal, for its minimalist and simple app, it still needs to go a long way down the road to beat the big boys of the industry but it looks promising.
Switching from WhatsApp isn't going to be easy, because unless your contacts don't make the switch, you can't do anything and simply have to switch back to WhatsApp. However, it's good to see users take their privacy seriously and realising that they do not have to feed all their private data to Facebook's ad engine to use a service.
The author is a Tech-Enthusiast and a Blogger