this post was submitted on 16 Nov 2023
39 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
37724 readers
477 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
All these features you get much better using actual E2E-encrypted chat apps like Signal or WhatsApp like the rest of the world.
The problem is getting other people to also use those apps :(
This is true.
But also, 99% of the population is not technical enough to download such apps and use them. They will only use the default apps that came with their phone, whatever outdated protocol they happen to be utilizing. Why else do you think Facebook, for example, pays manufacturers to preload their crapware on new handsets? And even more to make it as difficult to remove as possible.
WhatsApp does not come pre-installed on most phones (for some reason it often isn't included even with Facebook's crapware). It is still the de facto chat app in India, Brazil and dozens of other Asian, South American and European countries.
As far as I know, SMS in India and Brazil is not free. This means that for majority of users switching to a data-based app is not so much as a choice, but a necessity. In the US texting via SMS has been free for several decades, so there's no reason for people to look for an alternative.
SMS has been free in India since 2016. Though one could say WhatsApp had already become dominant by then, so it stuck.
Exactly. It has reached critical mass to a point where if you're not on it, you're basically not communicating.
Also, I remember that cross-carrier calling was an issue, which is why most people would need to use dual-SIM phones. Not sure if it's the same for SMS.