Why stop using this application? It has everything going for it: It’s simple, fast, efficient, free, and everyone is on it. With the current global pandemic, instant messaging apps have never been more popular.
A group to stay in touch with family, one for colleagues, and one for friends. WhatsApp is everywhere and even makes its way into the lives of your grandparents with devices like “Facebook Portal”.
So why would you want to leave a service that has become almost essential?
The Facebook Ecosystem #
Wait, why are you talking to me about Facebook and its ecosystem?
Simply because WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook in 2014.
So what, I don’t have a Facebook account, so they have nothing on me.
Well, that’s not entirely true. Even without an account, Facebook is capable of tracking you across multiple devices and a significant portion of the internet. The messaging app is currently not too bad in terms of privacy.
There is only one tracker (Google Analytics) detected in the code of the Android application, the end-to-end encryption for messages is solid, but the problem lies elsewhere.
A New Policy #
Starting from February 8, 2021, it will no longer be possible to use the application without accepting the new data sharing policy between the service and its parent company Facebook.
What is being shared is not the content of the messages, but all other information managed by the service: contacts, frequency of use, story content, etc.
The main interest for Facebook is to take advantage of the service’s user base to gather more information about you and improve its advertising offers.
So what do we do? #
WhatsApp is far from being the only application to offer this kind of service for free. We can only recommend that you turn to Signal, one of its main competitors.
Signal is an instant messaging application that offers the same features as WhatsApp. The code that makes it up is fully available on the internet and it does not contain any tracking tools.
To top it off, there are no economic interests involved as it is a non-profit organization that manages the service.
Want to give it a try? You can do so here. Just so you know, even whistleblower Edward Snowden uses it on a daily basis.
A fun fact for you, did you know that WhatsApp uses Signal’s cryptographic system? It’s a mark of quality to have a company like Facebook using a library developed by Signal.
Thanks to Nicolas for his careful proofreading and adjustments.
