[halviti]

I use both whatsapp and telegram.. with whatsapp being the majority of my messaging, I'd been a little apprehensive since the facebook takeover, but haven't changed my usage habits. This was exactly what it took for me to start pushing my friends to telegram.

[NameNickHN]

> pushing my friends to telegram

Do you have any suggestions on how to do that? The People I know either think Whatsapp is gods gift to mankind and won't switch or they can't use anything else because the people they interact with think it's gods gift to mankind and won't switch. I find it pretty hard to break that cycle.

[halviti]

The nice thing about both whatsapp and telegram are there are no accounts, so they just need to download the app, and they'll show up in your contacts. So all you have to do is convince them to go to the app store and install the program.

From there you just send them messages on Telegram, or start group chats. You likely won't convince them to switch themselves instantly, but if they want to message you, hopefully they're more likely to check telegram, because they'll want to get a better idea of when you were last available.

It's not perfect, but it's something, and hopefully if whatsapp keeps up with their paid subscription nonsense, it will push more people away.

[NameNickHN]

Thanks. This is better than nothing. Telegram not requiring an account and being free of charge will probably help a bit.

[brainburn]

Uhm, decent support on all your devices? (there's even a commandline client).

Versus that ridiculous hack where you can whatsapp in the browser, provided you scan a qr code and have the phone on the same network.

[kccqzy]

I don't think WhatsApp Web is a ridiculous hack. Instead I think it's quite an ingenious hack to allow you to use a computer to send and receive messages without 1) dealing with the pesky message synchronisation issues that plague iMessage, and 2) having the server store all messages. And your phone only needs to be connected to the Internet, not necessarily on the same network. Regarding the use of QR code, I think it's a clever way to authenticate too; no password to memorise, just a long random auth token.

[tpinto]

Have you even tried Telegram on the Web? It's clearly superior and yes, WhatsApp's solution feels like a nasty hack when compared to it. Also, didn't get that mention to iMessage.

[morsch]

Does it work when you're not storing your messages on their servers?

[jhasse]

No

[izacus]

Except that it stops working as soon as the phone enters sleep mode or (if you're roaming or something) has no reliable data connection.

[untog]

Except that it stops working as soon as the phone enters sleep mode

Can't say I've ever experienced that.

[izacus]

Android 6.0 Doze mode actually distrupts it, I should have perhaps been clearer.

[NameNickHN]

> there's even a commandline client

This totally speaks to me but I imagine saying to my buddies at the club: "You should use Telegram. It's free, you don't need an account, and best of all there is even a command line client.". That'll convince them right away. ;-)

[izacus]

Did you missunderstand "... there is even ..." phrase?

For most people Telegram offers pretty good desktop clients (as opposed to the rather horrible WhatsApp web experience).

[Grazester]

Your phone does not need to be on the same network!!!! I have my phone in front of me right now at work and I remoting into my home computer(Chrome remote desktop) and using the web client.

[jlewallen]

I feel like I've just finished convincing the majority of people I'm close to and communicate with regularly to use WhatsApp over standard SMS. I simply argued the group chat UX points and I don't know how privacy arguments would fly, sadly. I think it would induce eye-rolling irritation in them to ask them to switch again. I wish I had done better due diligence because I switched at a time when Signal/Telegram were available but I was pulled towards WA via another friend.