Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Not a lot of Android users in my circles. I left Facebook more than a decade ago... amazingly I also don't know what new products myspace have been working on. I moved on and eventually people still using WhatsApp will move on to the next messaging client like they did with MSM, AOL, Yahoo messenger and Skype.
WhatsApp is not simply a messaging app. As of March 2020, the platform had over two billion active users. None of the platforms you mentioned had that type of popularity.
 
Not a lot of Android users in my circles. I left Facebook more than a decade ago... amazingly I also don't know what new products myspace have been working on. I moved on and eventually people still using WhatsApp will move on to the next messaging client like they did with MSM, AOL, Yahoo messenger and Skype.

WhatsApp is not simply a messaging app. As of March 2020, the platform had over two billion active users. None of the platforms you mentioned had that type of popularity.
Yeah came here to say something similar. Funnily enough I have the complete opposite experience - I'm yet to come across a person who DOESN'T use WhatsApp. Every single new friend/colleague/family member etc. has it.
 
WhatsApp is not simply a messaging app. As of March 2020, the platform had over two billion active users. None of the platforms you mentioned had that type of popularity.
More people using it doesn't change that it is just another messaging app. It'll come and go like the others did and like Facebook, Yahoo, and MySpace did. At one point it was unthinkable that someone didn't have Skype.

Regardless, I don't know a soul that uses WhatsApp so I'll continue to use Discord, txt+iMessages, and Slack.
 
More people using it doesn't change that it is just another messaging app. It'll come and go like the others did and like Facebook, Yahoo, and MySpace did. At one point it was unthinkable that someone didn't have Skype.

Regardless, I don't know a soul that uses WhatsApp so I'll continue to use Discord, txt+iMessages, and Slack.
WhatsApp is literally not another messaging app. My mother frequently makes her phone calls from within Whatsapp to her friends/family in groups, etc. She has many groups in there, groups in which one has much more control unlike regular message groups, and don't have to worry if a person has unlimited texting/calling, etc. since you are only using data.

Skype had like 200 million user reach, and it was mainly video calling. But I don't have WhatsApp or any other messaging app than the default one. The way I figure is, if you can't reach me over plain text or iMessage, you are probably wasting my time. I don't want to install every app out there. Less noise, the better.
 
Serbia here, people mostly use Viber, but people use iMessage as well. I use iMessage with almost all my friends and family, because it's just nicer. I really dislike Viber and Whatsapp. Telegram is fine, but not many people use it. Viber seems to be the most popular in Eastern Europe.
 
I live in the US, Illinois specifically, and I personally do not know a single person who uses WhatsApp. I text a lot of people on a daily basis because I loathe actually talking on the phone, and they all have iMessage aside from a few Android using friends. WhatsApp could be the sh*t for all I know, but I have never had reason or desire to use it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saladin12
WhatsApp is literally not another messaging app. My mother frequently makes her phone calls from within Whatsapp to her friends/family in groups, etc. She has many groups in there, groups in which one has much more control unlike regular message groups, and don't have to worry if a person has unlimited texting/calling, etc. since you are only using data.

You just described Skype, Discord, FaceTime, Zoom, Discord, and a dozen other messaging apps. WhatsApp doesn't do anything special.

I have big group calls on Discord with my friends or Slack for when at work. Or we can even hop on Skype because everyone has Skype where's not everyone has Discord, WhatsApp has never been suggested because we don't have anyone that uses it and few would be willing to install it given the requirement or perceived requirement to make a Facebook account and/or provide data to Facebook.
 
Why? Wasn’t she an iPhone user ?
My thinking is that you don't go and use an app only for one person. I believe his daughter in Spain was using whatsapp with everyone else (as most of the people in Spain use Whatsapp). Happens the same to me.. I got all my family using iPhones now and we got a group on Imessage however the normal thing is just messaging on whatsapp as all their friends/related use it as well. Sometimes is the fact they forward things, other groups, etc.
 
You just described Skype, Discord, FaceTime, Zoom, Discord, and a dozen other messaging apps. WhatsApp doesn't do anything special.

I have big group calls on Discord with my friends or Slack for when at work. Or we can even hop on Skype because everyone has Skype where's not everyone has Discord, WhatsApp has never been suggested because we don't have anyone that uses it and few would be willing to install it given the requirement or perceived requirement to make a Facebook account and/or provide data to Facebook.

I stopped using Skype 3 years ago when Microsoft Teams pretty much replaced Skype for business. Office 365 is such a powerful package now, Skype no longer makes sense. The ability to integrate Forms, OneNote, Planner, Lists etc and for them to be so easy to share means Teams has massively pulled ahead in the market over the last two years.

I’d never heard of Discord or Slack, so I’m similar to you in my circles but in an opposite sort of way. I deal a lot with colleagues in Scandinavia, greater Europe and the UK where WhatsApp is the go to app for phone communication. If your circles are much smaller and regional, it may not be something you are exposed to. She may play a part too, although much of the older generation in my circles have been discovering WhatsApp in recent years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HalfFullmoon
WhatsApp in Malaysia and Singapore. iMessage is not popular at all. I believe, Line is popular in Thailand.
 
I’d never heard of Discord or Slack
Microsoft Teams is Microsofts attempt to clone Slack. Business will ether use Teams or Slack. Discord is sort of the gamers version of Slack and fits in where MSN and Yahoo messenger left off. Lots of artists, photographers, gamers, and even businesses will use Discord. We use it at work to connect with out customers who ether make or want to make video games.

And aye, if a tool isn't used in your business or family and friends circle then it is unlikely you'll have heard of it nor used it. Even if a one messaging client has 2 billion, if those are the 'wrong' 2 billion people it'll remain unknown.

Moving friends from MSN to Skype and then to Discord or anything else is a bother. Everyone was quite happy on MSN Messenger and didn't care to know why Skype was 'better' and I still have a lot of contacts on Skype that have no intention of using anything else. iMessages is great because people use it, no account required, and if the receiver doesn't have a iPhone they still get the message and can reply all the same. I haven't even remotely considered iMessage as a competitor to Discord, Skype, or anything else. It is just a progressive enhancement of standard txt messages.
 
You just described Skype, Discord, FaceTime, Zoom, Discord, and a dozen other messaging apps. WhatsApp doesn't do anything special.

I have big group calls on Discord with my friends or Slack for when at work. Or we can even hop on Skype because everyone has Skype where's not everyone has Discord, WhatsApp has never been suggested because we don't have anyone that uses it and few would be willing to install it given the requirement or perceived requirement to make a Facebook account and/or provide data to Facebook.
What makes WhatsApp different is that it did all those by 2014, a time when messaging and calling were not unlimited or free like now. You had to pay $0.30 cents per text. Because of this, by 2014, WhatsApp already had 600 million global active users. And iPhone market share in the US was about 33% in 2014, even lower in Europe. So not everyone had access to iMessage.

Facetime audio came out in 2013. Discord came out in 2015. Skype and Zoom are not messaging apps, nor calling, but video conferencing.

What WhatsApp did was change the whole messaging and calling landscape. It made it free.

I don't have Facebook, but to assume that your privacy is better served under other messaging apps is a bit naive. I have said before in an another thread, if you want privacy, stay off internet.
 
Last edited:
Wow. I still remember my icq login and tried it a few moments ago. All the people I knew are no longer on it. Was a really good app.
Yep, remembering when I was online using Windows Mobile 6 PDA and there was a mobile Icon and everyone asked, how I could message offroad. probably around 15 years go… ICQ just missed a proper mobile app for iOS and Android, as well, as multiple device at the same time.
 
What makes WhatsApp different is that it did all those by 2014, a time when messaging and calling were not unlimited or free like now. You had to pay $0.30 cents per text. Because of this, by 2014, WhatsApp already had 600 million global active users. And iPhone market share in the US was about 33% in 2014, even lower in Europe. So not everyone had access to iMessage.

Facetime audio came out in 2013. Discord came out in 2015. Skype and Zoom are not messaging apps, nor calling, but video conferencing.

What WhatsApp did was change the whole messaging and calling landscape. It made it free.

I don't have Facebook, but to assume that your privacy is better served under other messaging apps is a bit naive. I have said before in an another thread, if you want privacy, stay off internet.
We used Skype at work and for gaming before Discord and Slack. Skype has great text messaging and mediocre but usable group chats. For work we rarely used it for calls.
 
Ran across this relevant article:


I couldnt' read the full article (it's behind a paywall), but from what it appears to match the user responess in this thread: imessage is widely used in a few select countries (USA, Canada etc etc). Outside of these countries, other messaging platforms (ie Whattsapp, FB messenger, Viber etc etc) dominate.

I still don't understand the whole "blue bubble vs green bubble" phenomena (appears to occur moreso in the under 30's) in the USA...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig Bitties
I couldnt' read the full article (it's behind a paywall), but from what it appears to match the user responess in this thread: imessage is widely used in a few select countries (USA, Canada etc etc). Outside of these countries, other messaging platforms (ie Whattsapp, FB messenger, Viber etc etc) dominate.

I still don't understand the whole "blue bubble vs green bubble" phenomena (appears to occur moreso in the under 30's) in the USA...
Oh, didn't realize it was under paywall. I was able to read it without having a subscription. Anyway, what I found interesting was that young adults (especially females) using green text as an indication that they shouldn't date the person with green text. Because I believe someone mentioned exactly that in this thread. ?
 
"Young adults (especially females) using green text as an indication that they shouldn't date the person with green text..."

Yes, the World has gotten a bit shallow over the last decade or so. And, to think its over a particular type of text message, i.e. defining your financial status. Ugh, a real shame...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Barbareren
"Young adults (especially females) using green text as an indication that they shouldn't date the person with green text..."

Yes, the World has gotten a bit shallow over the last decade or so. And, to think its over a particular type of text message, i.e. defining your financial status. Ugh, a real shame...
Ironically enough, one probably shouldn't date someone who is shallow. So, I suppose it is a win-win.
 
Guy from India here.

Literally NOBODY uses iMessage in India, at least from what I know.

Pretty much the wholle market share for chatting apps is taken up by WhatsApp, and recently Signal and Telegram as well
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.