this post was submitted on 18 Aug 2023
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I really don't get the need to have an app that does messaging. My phone DOES messaging, built in. Why do I need another one?
I assume you're American? When you need to talk to people across borders you need something like WhatsApp. SMS doesn't cut it.
I'd rather use Signal but whatever.. I'm being practical. Everyone I know is on WhatsApp.
The moment when I hear someone talking about SMS it is almost always an American. Can’t recall the last time I sent a text message to someone like that, wouldn’t surprise me if it was 10 years ago (for context: am Dutch)
For most of us Europeans, SMS is like using smoke signs or pigeons
True
I send SM's to my kids when they're on the go, as they religiously disable gsm data and only use wifi, which means they regularly don't get my WhatsApp messages.
Before they got their own smartphone I was scared that their data plans would cost me an arm and a leg, but it turns out they're extremely stingy with their data 🤷♂️
GSM data? Is this 2005? Ahahahahahahah
Why do they they disable data?
An irrational fear of suddenly using all of it up. Before they got their phones, we drilled it into them to be conservative in their data usage. It's not that they complain that they have too little data, or how annoying it is that they have to leave it switched off to conserve it, they somehow are convinced that it is pointless to leave it on. We have mentioned numerous times that we'd be fine with upgrading their data plan, but they don't want to. It's like us in the nineties dialing into our ISP to download e-mail. Weird. Cheap. But weird.
Saves battery too if on a trip.
I think there is plenty of SMS usage in Europe.
It's easy as a technically savy user to lose sight on what less proficient users are using.
Yes, my parents both use perfectly fine their WhatsApp but they still send/receive a lot of SMS.
For context, I'm in France.
That’s interesting. I know a lot of people who WhatsApp with their grandparents though. All you have to do is install it on their phones once and then their phone becomes “the WhatsApp” in my experience
Yeah, same here. In Germany WhatsApp is extremely dominant. I tried to move to Threema, but only a couple of people are using it in the end, even after discussing the whole Facebook thing. Some people are also on Signal, but again, only a few. In the end, especially for groups, I still have to use WhatsApp.
Also happens to me, signal seems so much better.
You do know SMS can cross borders too?
For exorbitant fees.
I hope you don't mean about SMS.
Any messaging app is vastly superior to SMS
The only built in messaging app on my phone is "Messaging" that only handles SMS/MMS
if you mean the Google "Messaging" App: No, it doesn't only handle MMS/SMS. It does also RCS.
Oh really? Do you know the versions that support it?
https://support.google.com/messages/answer/13508703?hl=de&ref_topic=9459217&sjid=3803875772375299619-EU
I was under the impression that all Messages-Apps on smartphones that aren't completely outdated will do RCS.
This refers to "Messages" (com.google.android.apps.messaging), not "Messaging" (com.android.messaging), which comes with AOSP.
Huh. I didn't know those two were different apps... whelp, my bad.
featureset and costs - most messaging apps don't support markdown to the same extent, sms and mms may cost extra depending on your carrier and contract, etc.
not defending whatsapp but rather the concept in general - use signal/discord myself depending on the situation
Fratures like sending location, quoting messages, formatting text etc.
And also encryption (ideally E2E) and maybe privacy (depending on the messenger).
But see, his messages either go through apples servers or googles servers.... what could be the harm in that?
I'm talking about telegram signal and matrix clients
The messaging thats built in is unencrypted SMS. For more advanced features like group chats, sending media, voice notes, encryption, cross device support etc, an encrypted messaging app like Signal, Session , Matrix or even Telegram is better
What is the other person has a phone with different app preinstalled? What if you change your phone?
My wife has an iPhone, I have an Android phone, our kid has Android, his wife has iPhone... there have been zero problems using the native apps singly or in groups.
In fact, I had more problems trying a low-rent provider (Mint) than I ever did the various stock messaging apps.
That messaging is one of two things:
You either have SMS, which hasn't benefitted from any of the advancements of the last decade, or you have iMessage which forces you and friends to spend WAY more money than needed because you essentially NEED an iPhone to use it with your phone number.
Please, use Signal
I have Android, my wife has iOS, I can chat with her singly and in group chat with other family members, I don't see a need to complicate things with another chat application.
In that case whatever you're using isn't SMS.
SMS has never supported group chats, and as such you should double-check what you're actually using to text with one another.
I find End-To-End-Encryption especially important, as it protects the things you say between you and others, so I advise you to double-check that
It's just the default app that came with my phone. Encryption isn't important to me unless someone really wants to snoop on who may or may not have forgotten to buy toilet paper. LOL. We aren't talking trade secrets here.
Privacy ≠ secrecy.
I like to quote this from privacyguides.org: "Much like the right to interracial marriage, woman's suffrage, freedom of speech, and many others, our right to privacy hasn't always been upheld. In several dictatorships, it still isn't. Generations before ours fought for our right to privacy. Privacy is a human right, inherent to all of us, that we are entitled to (without discrimination).
You shouldn't confuse privacy with secrecy. We know what happens in the bathroom, but you still close the door. That's because you want privacy, not secrecy. Everyone has something to protect. Privacy is something that makes us human."