Hobby

We all want to stay connected. That is why we use messenger services from various providers. WhatsApp is at the forefront.

WhatsApp claims to have more than 30 million active users in Germany in January 2014.

WhatsApp usage in the United States

Despite being one of the most popular mobile messenger apps based on monthly active users worldwide, WhatsApp ranked behind Facebook Messenger in terms of U.S. audience reach. As of October 2018, only 12.1 percent of mobile users in the United States accessed WhatsApp, compared to a 56.8 percent usage reach of Facebook Messenger.
^{(Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/558290/number-of-whatsapp-users-usa/)}

While the number of users worldwide was still 600 million in August 2014, it rose to one billion by early February 2016, who sent 42 billion messages, 1.6 billion photos and 250 million videos a day. By 2019, the number of users had increased to 1.5 billion people and the number of messages sent daily to over 65 billion. In Germany, 96% of young people use WhatsApp. ^(Wikipedia)

At least since the takeover of WhatsApp by Facebook, many people have been wondering whether there is an alternative to WhatsApp for various reasons.

With the data protection declaration of August 25, 2016, WhatsApp grants the right to regularly forward phone numbers of contacts in the user's address book to Facebook.

Sylke and I therefore chose the Messenger SIGNAL. The following reasons were decisive for our decision:

• We did not want unwanted disclosure of data of our contacts to Facebook.
• Similar look and feel to WhatsApp (group chats, transfer of pictures, etc.)
• Some of our contacts are already using signal.
• Open source development, i.e. the code is visible to everyone, no hidden back doors.
• The encryption technology.

Yes, some will say, so far so good, but their server are locatied in the United States, which means that they are out of reach of European and German security standards. That's right, but where is a similarly functioning messenger from Europe or Germany? See - nowhere. In my opinion there is never 100% security, but running into the arms of Facebook with your eyes open was not an option. Unfortunately there is no universal messenger that supports ALL messenger services and is 100% secure.

Conclusion: I will have to live with WhatsApp for a while, but the first of the family are using signal, more family and friends are thinking about it. The days of WhatsApp and Facebook on my PC and cell phone are numbered!

By the way - times are changing. Maybe someday there will be THE messenger for everything - then the signal must come up with something new.