Whatsapp vs iMessage

[3bs]

I've been using iMessage a lot more than whatsapp ever since it came out. I only use whatsapp for people who still haven't updated to iOS 5 and for people on blackberries.
Two things that whatsapp does better is the way you hide the keyboard. Tapping the chat seems much easier and tidier than flicking the keyboard down in iMessage and having to scroll back to the end of the chat. Also, it's annoying how there's a bit of a delay between sending messages on iMessage. I know it's less than a second but on whatsapp u don't have to wait for the message to float up to chat so you can start typing the next message.
I hope Apple addresses these two issues. I feel like they haven't put much effort into the UI of the app. Same old Messages app but now you can hide the keyboard and not have to go out of the chat and back in to hide.

 

[Will69]

Also. What'sapp has more robust blocking features and shows you when the other party was last online.
Plus I really like the send location feature.


I'm still using WA. And if speed is what you want most, use Kik messenger. Rocket fast.

 

[Nrwrit3r]

WhatsApp is now free for iphone

 

[haruhiko]

Whatsapp's advantages:

1. Cross platform (iOS + Android + BB + Nokia)
2. Quicker in sending messages (the interval between pressing "SEND" and delivered)
3. No worries about iMessage being sent as text message (by the way, how about people with color blindness? how can they distinguish iMessage / SMS?)
4. It shows the other party's last online time
5. it can share location and sound clips / voice messages
6. It has a "favorites" section that only displays people with Whatsapp installed in your phone book
7. E-mail Chat history
8. Contacts can be blocked


iMessage's advantages:
1. All iOS devices supported: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
2. Quicker launch speed
3. completely free with iOS5
4. Seamless experience if you have unlimited or vast amount of text included in your plan


Not many of my friends with iPhone has upgraded to iOS 5, either they don't know how to (upgrading through iTunes is very difficult to many people), so I just use iMessage with my closest friends now.

 

[iFreak23]

But i still prefer iMessage

 

[SoloStyle]

WhatsApp is now free for iphone

Nope. Still $.99 cents.

 

[iMikeT]

Does Whatsapp give you a phone number like other SMS/MMS apps?

 

[Ice-Cube]

What I don't like about iMessage is that you do not have the option to turn it off for certain users. Once the other party is identified as using iMessage, there is no way you can force send an sms to them. I ran into this problem when my friend went overseas (no data roaming) and I have no way to send him any text other than turning the whole iMessage service off. What a bummer!

 

[haruhiko]

What I don't like about iMessage is that you do not have the option to turn it off for certain users. Once the other party is identified as using iMessage, there is no way you can force send an sms to them. I ran into this problem when my friend went overseas (no data roaming) and I have no way to send him any text other than turning the whole iMessage service off. What a bummer!

This.

I can't imagine that they still have this fundamental problem after beta testing for 4 months!

 

[Grolubao]

This.

I can't imagine that they still have this fundamental problem after beta testing for 4 months!

Indeed, it's unbelievable... Also you cannot send your location which is extremely useful.

 

[TLewis]

Whatsapp's advantages:

5. it can share location and sound clips / voice messages

You can do these with iMessage, too. You just have to stupidly send those from other apps like Maps and Voice Memos.

 

[haruhiko]

You can do these with iMessage, too. You just have to stupidly send those from other apps like Maps and Voice Memos.

Oh I thought that iOS apps esp. first party apps from Apple should be intuitive and does not require a user manual to learn how to use.....

Another ridiculous thing of iOS that has never changed over the years is the 3rd party apps' settings in the Settings.app. Why a part of the settings for an app is not contained in the app itself but offloaded to the Settings app? I have read Apple's guideline saying that the Settings.app is only for "set it once and forget it" settings, but why not just put them inside the app? It's very confusing to users.

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Indeed, it's unbelievable... Also you cannot send your location which is extremely useful.

At least iMessage should tell me that the user is not online at the moment and give me an option to send it as SMS. The current "Send as SMS" in settings cannot do this.

 

[bushido]

i still prefer WhatsApp as i can see when the person was last online and they cant give me the "sry i just read ur text" excuse plus sending pics on iMessage seems to take forever

 

[roxxette]

This.

I can't imagine that they still have this fundamental problem after beta testing for 4 months!

When iMessage enable , if the other person for some reason is in another phone , or like you say with no data roaming etc AFTER you send the message you press the bubble and it will display 2 options: 1.Copy ; 2.Send as Text Message .

So there you go , not what whe should expect but atleast is there

 

[179202]

Whatsapp's advantages:

1. Cross platform (iOS + Android + BB + Nokia)
2. Quicker in sending messages (the interval between pressing "SEND" and delivered)
3. No worries about iMessage being sent as text message (by the way, how about people with color blindness? how can they distinguish iMessage / SMS?)
4. It shows the other party's last online time
5. it can share location and sound clips / voice messages
6. It has a "favorites" section that only displays people with Whatsapp installed in your phone book
7. E-mail Chat history
8. Contacts can be blocked


iMessage's advantages:
1. All iOS devices supported: iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
2. Quicker launch speed
3. completely free with iOS5
4. Seamless experience if you have unlimited or vast amount of text included in your plan

1. Correct
2. Not in my experience. Plus, whatsapp doesn't actually alert you when the message hasn't sent. iMessage automatically sends it as a text - a HUGE bonus. I have to copy and paste text into the Messages app from Whatsapp way to often.
3. Here in the UK, the majority plans include free unlimited text messaging, so this isn't a concern. I'm always gobsmacked when people say they don't have free unlimited texts.
4. Very much dislike people knowing that. If I want to reply, I will. You knowing I've been online only makes you more impatient. This is not a plus (especially with privacy issues becoming so prevalent these days).
5. You can do this on the iPhone too. You just din't have the button within the app. That's a nice button but it's by no means missing on iMessage.
6, 7 & 8 are correct too.

 

[Diiiiips]

A friend using iMessage was saying how it takes a whole longer to send a message thru that than Whatsapp, is this true? He likened it to sending an SMS.

 

[3bs]

Being able to see when the person was last online is a good feature to have but what I hate about how it works on whatsapp is it means if you go on to talk to someone about something urgent but someone else also sent u some whatsapp messages then that other person will think you're ignoring them. On iMessage it only says "read" when you open the chat and not the app like on whatsapp. I prefer it that way.

 

[steve-p]

Even if you send photos to people, WhatsApp will compress the image file and send it to the recipients.

It does a good job of it as well. The quality is still good but the size is reasonable for sending over a slow cellular network connection. I send and receive pictures all the time with WhatsApp.

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On iMessage it only says "read" when you open the chat and not the app like on whatsapp. I prefer it that way.

It's a bit meaningless though. If it's a short message, they may have read the text in the notification, even if they don't open the chat for ages. So they could still be ignoring you.

 

[3bs]

It does a good job of it as well. The quality is still good but the size is reasonable for sending over a slow cellular network connection. I send and receive pictures all the time with WhatsApp.

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It's a bit meaningless though. If it's a short message, they may have read the text in the notification, even if they don't open the chat for ages. So they could still be ignoring you.

Like I said, they might have a good reason to be ignoring you

 

[Ice-Cube]

When iMessage enable , if the other person for some reason is in another phone , or like you say with no data roaming etc AFTER you send the message you press the bubble and it will display 2 options: 1.Copy ; 2.Send as Text Message .

So there you go , not what whe should expect but atleast is there

I don't see this option on my phone, do u have a screenshot?

 

[ZipZap]

Con:

WhatsApp and TextNow dont compose and send via SIRI.

 

[parseckadet]

Question. How much are the Whatsapp guys paying all of you to astroturf for them?

Sorry, but there are tons of messaging apps out there (AIM, Beejive, Facebook, etc.). Yet every 5 minutes it seems like there's a new thread about Whatsapp, but never one for the other apps. That can't be coincidence.

 

[jmmo20]

Question. How much are the Whatsapp guys paying all of you to astroturf for them?

Sorry, but there are tons of messaging apps out there (AIM, Beejive, Facebook, etc.). Yet every 5 minutes it seems like there's a new thread about Whatsapp, but never one for the other apps. That can't be coincidence.

Whatsapp is a really well designed and thought of piece of software.
They excel at what others failed.

Plus it's pretty different to other AIM, beejive or facebook apps. Whatsapp is not a chat app, it's a messaging app aimed at replacing SMS between users of the app. You don't need user ID's or password, all you need is your telephone number to authenticate yourself and that's all.

 

[kicko]

something like whatsapp should go around reintroducing itself again. Cross platform should really win the debate between imessage and whatsapp. Still people have dumb phones and thats where both fail and SMS is still needed.

The other issue is with many different "free" texting options not everyone will choose the same one.

Whatsapp needs to advertise

 

[HeezyBear]

I hate the white bar that you can't hide at the top of a group chat in iMessage. I also like being able to easily access all the media in a chat in Whatsapp.