[skyyler]

I can see what you're getting at here but in this case, a lack of changes is NOT desired or virtuous.

WA is being left in the dust by messaging platforms that actually care about shipping a quality product.

[llampx]

Oh hell no. I'm glad that Whatsapp is being mostly left alone, or at least that's what I see as a user. They ship some improvements and extraneous stuff (Whatsapp Status) from time to time, but the core of the app stays as it is.

Most people don't look forward to every time their app is redesigned starting from the icon up. It mostly doesn't get better, it gets worse to satisfy a Product Manager's CV checkbox.

[c-cube]

Says you. Lots of people like software that keeps working reliably over the years. I know I do. The only valuable updates to WhatsApp are when new emojis are added ;). For the rest it already works very well, why break it or redesign it?

[skyyler]

Indeed, says me. I've never used whatsapp and I probably never will.

Other messaging apps introduce new features, like inline bots and the ability to not share your phone number to everyone you talk to.

[guy4261]

I thought about this yesterday.

There is actually something very cute and personal about WhatsApp.

I would go to Telegram to get movies or some restricted (conspiracy?) news feeds.

Spam, payment notes, etc. come via regular Messages/SMS.

But when something comes via WhatsApp... Dunno, it just feels more personal from me. As if, it's someone I personally know or care about / involved with.

I think some of this magic is preserved just because it does not add any other features that dilate the original use case and how it makes one feel.

[hattmall]

Telegram to get movies? Can you explain this?

[skyyler]

In addition to 1-to-1 chats and group chats, telegram has channels, which are kind of similar to twitter timelines, 1-to-many communications.

There are a large number of channels that take advantage of the 2 gig filesize limit by uploading pirated media. It's actually more convenient than torrents for most things, but it's still a hassle compared to a good usenet setup.

You can find entire seasons of animes just by doing a global search for the name of the anime. Sometimes there's even a chat attached for discussing the anime!

[skyyler]

It's quaint :-)

[benlivengood]

The articles I can find with numbers show Whatsapp at about 2B users, ahead of WeChat and everything else. When I flew Southwest the other day the only apps the "free wifi messaging" bothered supporting were iMessage and Whatsapp.

[krisboyz781]

no, it isn't. WA is the industry standard. More features doesn't mean better