I hear a lot about this app but I don't really understand what the big deal is? Am I missing something?
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- Thread starter falconeight
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It's a cross platform text messaging app without ads and without fees other than the $1 purchase price. Basically it scans your whole address book and any of your contacts using whatsapp will appear on a "Buddy list". It has group, picture, and video messaging, but it's also simple and not bloated like instant messaging. It also tells you when messages have been received by their server and when your friends receive messages.
It basically puts imessage to shame.
It basically puts imessage to shame.
Just when they got them , it also has a timestamp thats shows "Online" when you are active in the app , and the famous "Last Seen"
Don't use it to send pictures and videos since it lowers the pics to VGA quality and vids to 240p. That's what turned me off.
Seems like it would be good for people with family overseas. Why isn't google hangouts or Facebook chat enough?
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I've used Whatsapp since it first appeared on Android and was one of the first apps I purchased when I moved to the iPhone. It allows a very good group chat feature for cross platform messaging too. Its free to send messages, videos, pictures etc and most of my friends have it. I think I saw it stated somewhere that more Whatsapp messages are being sent around the world daily than emails now. Sounds huge, but its an app I couldn't do without after so long.
I use whatsapp daily! One of the best features about it is that you don't have to "add" friends to your list. It automatically finds your whatsapp-enabled friends from your contacts list (identified via their mobile number) and it "just works". Better than iMessage and SMS'es. Multimedia messages are free to send and receive too!
I always though that 1 check mark means sent and 2 check marks = read, atleast for me thats how it seems to work but its global not per conversation/msg by that i mean that once the app is open it marks everything as "read".
There's not really a big deal about it. It's just a simple and clean messaging app that only requires your phone number. You don't have to add contacts, you can send a message to anyone who uses Whatsapp by simply using their phone number. Because of it's simplicity it's incredibly popular in certain parts of the world (especially parts where text messaging was expensive) such as The Netherlands (everyone with a phone capable of running Whatsapp uses Whatsapp here and it really changed the market).
I can explain the popularity of the app in The Netherlands quite simply:
1. Smartphone penetration is very high.
2. Text messaging was relatively expensive.
3. Whatsapp appeared at the right moment.
Because of these three factors, Whatsapp quickly became very popular ("all your friends have it"). It's not necessarily better than competitors (though there's nothing wrong with the app), it's just that more people use it. Overseas communication has nothing to do with it, it's more of a side benefit.
I can explain the popularity of the app in The Netherlands quite simply:
1. Smartphone penetration is very high.
2. Text messaging was relatively expensive.
3. Whatsapp appeared at the right moment.
Because of these three factors, Whatsapp quickly became very popular ("all your friends have it"). It's not necessarily better than competitors (though there's nothing wrong with the app), it's just that more people use it. Overseas communication has nothing to do with it, it's more of a side benefit.
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The main plus with whatsapp is that it works on all mobile os, even on pretty oldschool nokia phones you can use it, about pictures and videos
its fine.The main plus with whatsapp is that it works on all mobile os, even on pretty oldschool nokia phones you can use it, about pictures and videos
Yeah, that's the only reason I use it. Most of my friends and family overseas and locally don't use iPhones. Apple hasn't made a mark in the country I'm in, so people prefer to buy the blackberries and the cheaper Samsung android phones.
I still much prefer using iMessage whenever I can as its clean, simple, and pleasant to use.
If you keep the message wallpaper clean, I can't see an awfull lot of difference in appearance between the two. You have message bubbles showing the flow of conversation on whatsapp much like iMessage, and you attach files in much the same way too. Like yourself I use both but don't prefer one over the other because they are fundamentally the same in application and use.
I just don't really like the way it handles notifications, or the actual interface (where you see the chats), and those small stuff. iMessage seems to be slightly more refined.
whatsapp came out before hangouts and facebook chat, i guess a lot of people have already got used to it and have friends on it.
for me, i found imessage better since it's integrated into iOS/Mac OSX and most of my friends are using iphone.
It is great for people overseas! I chat with my family in Venezuela every so often. Most of them do have facebook, but they all arent too "active", and few of them have google accounts. Some just arent into the registering for social media and such. iMessage would be great, but down there Blackberries are still pretty popular (no clue as to why) and iPhones are super expensive, they arent subsidized like they are here, so few people have them.
iMessage could well be more refined as its built into the OS rather than a third party app. My notifications are set the same for both though. When my phone is locked they both show up as badges on the lockscreen and both come up in the centre when I am using the phone for other purposes. Whatsapp also shows up in the pull down notification screen as well as the red number tag showing up on the apps icon.
So I was reading a few reviews on iTunes re: WHATSAPP and a few mentioned that it was not secure in a public wi-fi network, and that others can access and read your text messages. How is this possible?
In a private network at home, would it be then secured from neighbors reading text messages who may have the same WHATSAPP on their smartphones?
In a private network at home, would it be then secured from neighbors reading text messages who may have the same WHATSAPP on their smartphones?