Are they any good? And which one(s) would you recommend?
The obvious issue of whether or not people you know use them or are willing to switch aside, they do seem to offer some benefits, like being Open Source instead of Facebook-owned in the case of Signal (which Snowden apparently reps) and the obvious privacy and security peace of mind that brings.
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There are no good alternatives because people simply won't switch no matter how hard you try to persuade them to
So that’s an insurmountable deal breaker then?
They don.t switch, but will install an additional messenger if they like you.
t. guy with friends using signal
well telegram is way better
but it has certain issues
Well, is there a way to use WhatsApp somewhat anonymously then by, for instance, not giving out one’s phone number? There’s no burner phones where I live so I just tried using those virtual online numbers you can use to receive verification SMS but apparently WhatsApp had all those blacklisted because it accepted none of them and now tells me I can’t enter anymore because tried using too many.
There are many absolutely great alternatives, all of them are worth nothing however because none uses them. You might get some people to use a specific messenger but if 90% of your social circle doesnt, why bother?
Threema.
No phonenumber needed.
Seems to be safe- audited. (btfo muuh closed source ).
Servers in Switzerland.
Bump. Any ideas, anons?
Signal and Whatsapp both run the same protocol under the hood, it's frustrating they can't interoperate.
Telegram is dodgy as fuck and not even encrypted by default you asshat, enjoy your botnet.
Buy a prepaid next time overseas, create account with that instead, can keep the bullshit number for eternity.
Thanks, that sounds like it would work but isn’t something I can do, like, right now, within the week. Any other ideas?
I mean, true, but WhatsApp is not interested in allowing that for obvious reasons ...
Still bumping.
Wire
Won't really matter. If they use WhatsApp, Fuckerberg will know who you are by who the "anonymous number" contacts. Your phone isn't open source so everything you do can be seen anyways.
Cheaper to go to a phone store and use one of their demo phones. They usually have a phone number.
Huh, I might actually try that one.
Still, are there any possible ways that I can use from the comfort of my own home? The virtual online number seemed ideal but all the ones I tried WhatsApp apparently recognized.
i dislike signal intensely, but it seems like the most idiot friendly alternative. google play services are required.
there are a long tail of "better" options, but good luck convincing anyone to adopt them
Thoughts on Retroshare?
LINE. Most Japanese use it.
GNU Jami
Decentralized, encrypted, and open source.
jami.net
XMPP/Jabber clients!?
Bumping once more. Any options that I could make use of right now, right here?
kek kek fuck you
dumb frog poster
Telegram is way better functionally and more secure
as Chink, LINE is bloated shit, ads and loads of shits you don't need
Unironically getting mad about frog posters is as stupid as actually malignant frog posters.
WhatsApp has severe lock in because a lot of third world telecoms explicitly whitelist it from data caps, and charge highway robbery rates for regular SMS/MMS. If you or your friends live in one of those countries (notably India and most of Latin America) you're stuck.
>kek kek
i'm laugh at you dumbness.
Trips before swine.
Anyway, feel free to suggest an option or shut up in case you are as clueless as I (the glaringly obvious reality).
Huh, that’d explain it. Any idea how to comfortably bypass it anyway?
Get a better provider or pay for data. Sorry, that's about all I can think of.
Oh, no, I mean how do I set up WhatsApp without giving out my phone number? Ideally I could do it right now and without leaving the house.
Suggestions (that do not meet those requirements) so far have been getting a prepaid card in another country and using the demo phone in a shop.
You don't.
The whole point is to communicate with people. If nobody uses the alternatives, then what use are they?
So what you are saying is by not using Whatsapp you don't need to talk to spics and street shitters? I don't see the need here.
I guess I was maybe thinking there’d possibly be alternatives that could interface with WhatsApp removing the NEED for widespread adoption but I suppose that wasn’t a very reasonable hope ...
I agree with this user, you can set up your own encryption too which means you can make it as secure as YOU want it to be.
lmao nope, WhatsApp's entire business model is vendor lock in. Same reason Discord is actively hostile to bridges to anything more complex than IRC.
asking someone you know to receive the sms and give you the code although I guess that makes it only pseudo-anonymous
Signal.
just get a throwaway prepaid SIM for $1 and pay in cash. There, now you have a number that can't be traced back to you.
>shut up in case you are as clueless as I
make me, king dumb of dumbland