[dijit]

FD: I'm an iPhone user. (not a die-hard, but I haven't found a decent android I can get along with permanently).

Aside from the number of people (network effects) on WhatsApp, what does it have over something like telegram, signal or any of the other cross-platform messengers?

Devils advocate for a moment:

Signal is pretty consistent, for a "no frills" chat solution, the UX is worse but it is still consistent across platforms.

Telegram does everything WhatsApp does but "better", native desktop apps, voice calling is clearer, it still very consistent. You can even have "usernames"; the UX is clearly superior. But the security model is questionable.

And if the answer is: "but network effects", why not Facebook messenger? it has the same reach if not greater.

So, why WhatsApp?

(this is a genuine question, I'm not trolling).

[lucideer]

> Aside from the number of people (network effects)

Network effects is it.

> if the answer is: "but network effects", why not Facebook messenger?

This is a good point, and I'm not really sure, but some guesses:

- Branding. During it's initial growth WhatsApp was a FB alternative and FB was in decline. Even after acquisition, awareness of the ownership wasn't immediately widespread.

- Contextual app differentiation. Facebook didn't separate its messenger from it's main platform quickly enough and even when they did, they're both conceptually considered a single package. People these days like separation of contexts.

- Phone numbers. WhatsApp was hard-linked to your phone contacts from the off, making it familiar to SMS users. Facebook jumping on phone numbers has followed slowly in a less focused manner.

- Less confusion for tech-illiterate. There's no posts or pages or walls. It's just like SMS.

> it has the same reach if not greater.

Anecdotal, but I don't feel this is true anymore. I certainly know a lot more people without Facebook than without WhatsApp.

[m_mueller]

phone number pairing is not just about familiarity - a person's phone number is still a natural contact handle to put on a signature, business card etc. Being able to then WhatsApp this person is very powerful.

[Deganta]

Where I live (Austria), Facebook messenger does not have the same reach as Whatsapp.

Pretty much everyone with a Smartphone has Whatsapp, but there are lots of people without a Facebook Account. These are mostly older people. There are also people (like me, but I know several others) who do have a Facebook account, but don't use it on their phone.

The really nice thing about Whatsapp is the installation experience. Just download the App from Google Play/Appstore. Start it. Confirm your phone number. And you can communicate with all your friends. Facebook is much harder in this regards. Signal is similar, "but network effects".

[technicaldonut]

Not OP but I'll chime in. I have a range of devices myself and within in my social circle. I also live abroad from my family so good communication is key.

My work phone is an iPhone, my personal an Android, and across the family there is a multitude of old and new, Android and Apple.

Telegram is using (or used) some homebrew encryption protocol and I simply don't trust it. As it doesn't have a proper tried and tested encryption I'm not going to use it. (The encryption may have changed by now, as I haven't kept tabs on it.)

Signal is okay. There are 2 main things that irk me. Signal's Windows App is bad. Long loading times, bad UI. Keeps crashing for me. I also frequently video chat with family. Signal's quality is considerably worse than that of other services. The sound is choppy and video may or may not work. This is on all devices I own, regardless of network speed.

iMessage and FaceTime are good but platform locked. The video call quality on FaceTime is the best one across all services for me. The picture and sound is just significantly clearer than anywhere else. If I talk to family members with an Apple device I will generally use FaceTime.

WhatsApp still remains my main one for the simple reason that it gives me the best average experience across all devices and circumstances. Video and phone calls could be better but are acceptable. Chats are easy to use and work. Service quality is generally good. WhatsApp for me stands out because it doesn't really negatively stand out anywhere else. Yes, owned by Facebook is something I'm not entirely comfortable with, but right now, there simply isn't any other application that for me is consistently average across every platform.

[sobani]

> And if the answer is: "but network effects", why not Facebook messenger? it has the same reach if not greater.

The last message in my Facebook messenger is almost a year old when a single person wished me a happy birthday.

My WhatsApp is 'a bit' more active than that with 9 different groups / people in the past 7 days.

I know only a single person that doesn't use WhatsApp. He uses Signal over privacy concerns.

In my experience Facebook messenger usage is a rounding error.

[nujabe]

>I'm an iPhone user. (not a die-hard, but I haven't found a decent android I can get along with permanently

Try Google Pixel. Always have been an Android user and the Pixel has the Android experience imo.