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South Africans who distrust WhatsApp owner Meta Platforms or those who simply want to try something new have a myriad of instant messaging (IM) mobile apps to choose from.
With over 2 billion active users by March 2023, WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app by a significant margin.
However, the company formerly known as Facebook has developed an infamous reputation for its handling of users’ private data.
Given that its primary source of revenue is advertising, Meta benefits from being able to use as much personal information of its users as it can.
While it has largely kept its hands out of the WhatsApp cookie jar, its decision to start sharing some user information in WhatsApp Business chats with its other platforms was met with brief but severe backlash in 2021.
While many might regard their concern for privacy as the main reason for avoiding WhatsApp, the app also falls short of some rivals regarding certain features.
We’ve assembled a list of the most popular WhatsApp alternatives on the market, with brief explanations of what each offers.
Below are seven possible alternatives to WhatsApp that offer similar features while also promising to be much more secure than SMS.
Telegram
- Supported platforms: Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, MacOS, Windows, Web
- Price: Free
- End-to-end encryption: Optional
- Requirements: Phone number
WhatsApp’s biggest contender has one powerful weapon in its arsenal — the ability to add up to 200,000 members to a group channel, resulting in super-large communities.
This has proven to be particularly useful in helping to bring South African suburbs together to improve residential security.
It is also helpful for organisers of large events and co-ordinating large groups of people during emergencies.
Experts reckon that Telegram’s services aren’t as secure as WhatsApp and Signal due to its use of cloud storage for chats. Communication is also not end-to-end encrypted by default.
Signal
- Supported platforms: Android, iOS, iPadOS, MacOS, Linux, Windows
- Price: Free
- End-to-end encryption: Yes, by default
- Requirements: Phone number
Signal’s heavy focus on privacy has earned it endorsements from tech billionaire and Meta critic Elon Musk and whistleblower Edward Snowden.
WhatsApp approached Signal to implement end-to-end encryption for its platform. It is owned and operated by a non-profit foundation led by Moxie Marlinspike and WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton.
Acton left Facebook in 2017 because he was unhappy about the company’s plans for the WhatsApp.
Viber
- Supported platforms: Android, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, MacOS, Windows
- Price: Free, optional subscription with unlimited international calls to phones without Viber
- End-to-end encryption: Yes
- Requirements: Phone number
Viber is owned by Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten and was originally just a voice-over-IP app. It gradually expanded its capabilities to become a fully-fled secure messaging service.
Among its unique features are Snapchat-powered AR selfie lenses and its own social network called Communities.
While the standard app is free to use, paying for the Viber Out subscription service will give you the ability to call internationally to phones without the app at cheaper rates than other mobile options.
Threema
- Supported platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, Windows
- Price: Google Play — R81.99 or Apple App Store — R99.99
- End-to-end encryption: Yes
- Requirements: None, phone number or email are optional
Threema is even more serious about privacy than Signal, allowing users to message with complete anonymity.
The app’s home country is Switzerland, which is reputed for its strong privacy laws.
Those less concerned about exposing their details or identity still have the option to link their email address or phone number.
Its standout features include end-to-end encryption and native storage of messages, as well as a secure built-in browser.
It is the only app on our list that is not free, with a once-off cost of R81.99 on Google Play and R99.99 on the Apple App Store.
Wire
- Supported platforms: Android, iOS, MacOS, Windows
- Price: Free for individuals, paid tier for businesses
- End-to-end encryption: Yes
A free Swiss counterpart to Threema, Wire is built on an open-source encryption protocol called Proteus, which is based on the Open Signal Protocol used by Signal and WhatsApp.
Like Signal, the protocol is often subjected to security audits to ensure it remains protected against vulnerabilities.
Wire has supported multi-accounts and syncing across multiple devices for some time, features that were only recently introduced on WhatsApp.
iMessage
- Supported platforms: iOS, iPadOS, MacOS
- Price: Free
- End-to-end encryption: With Advanced Data Protection turned on
Many South Africans might be surprised to know that WhatsApp is less of a big deal in the home country of its owner.
In the US, Apple’s iMessage is a much more prevalent IM app due to being the default on iPhones — the most popular smartphone in the country.
iMessage is Apple’s default messaging app for iPhones, offering most of the features of other IM apps, with the exception of voice and video calls.
While you can use iMessage to communicate with Android users, any messages sent will automatically be converted to SMS, which means they have more limited features and might not display correctly.
Google Messages
- Supported platforms: Android, Web
- Price: Free
- End-to-end encryption: Yes
Google Messages is effectively the company’s answer to iMessage and is available only on Android phones.
Google Messages users the Rich Communications Services (RCS) protocol which the company believes should replace SMS.
RCS offers several benefits over SMS — including a much longer character limit, and more efficient support for non-text content like images, videos, GIFs, and locations.
As with iMessage, video and voice calling is not supported on Google Messages.
Now read: Why WhatsApp is adding itself to people’s contact lists
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