[giarc]

This is a huge hurdle in my opinion. Most of my friends own an iPhone and since I also own one, we group message on iMessage. If I wanted to switch to an Android, I would have to either convince them to switch to WhatsApp, Telegram etc etc or stop being part of that group chat, I think they call this FOMO. So having a bunch of friends with an iPhone that I regularly communicate with is a big pressure to continue buying Apple products.

[minot]

Isn't WhatsApp more secure than telegram now that it implements the textsecure protocol? I guess the biggest hurdle with whatsapp now is what to do when the public key for a user changes...

[rhia]

WhatsApp is still a complete pain to use once you are used to Telegram. Wanna switch phones? Better get ready to backup all your messages by hand. Want to use something other than a phone? Here, use our shitty web app. Your phone is out of battery? sucks for you i guess!

[Nursie]

>> Your phone is out of battery? sucks for you i guess!

??

Can you use telegram from another device? I think WhatsApp now has a windows client, maybe macos as well, recently announced.

No idea what the security is like though.

--edit-- Erm, I'm confused at the downvote, the parent raised a series of objections to WhatsApp and I asked for clarification of what they meant and suggested a non-phone client was available.

I've done the research now and it turns out to be utterly useless if your phone's out of batteries as it does some sort of sync'ing and relies on the phone being on, so it's not fit for the purpose.

But I'm still mystified at the downvote...

--edit 2-- More downvotes! Yay! Wtf?

[PauloManrique]

You can use Telegram on any device you want at same time. PC, Phone, tablet, you name it.

WhatsApp on the other hand only works in one device (your phone). They released a webchat, that just works as a proxy to connect to your phone. So in order to use the WhatsApp web, you need your phone on and with internet connection.

[beering]

People will probably continue downvoting you as long as you continue to complain about downvotes. Downvotes happen, whether randomly or because someone is having a bad day. Making a fuss out of it is counterproductive.

[Nursie]

I'm not complaining really, I was just wondering why.

[minot]

I upvoted you. Last time I tried it, using Whatsapp on your computer requires you to have the phone on. I think this is because the app on the phone holds your private key. I imagine this is also the reason why you can't use your whatsapp on a tablet or on multiple phones.

[darklajid]

Maybe the downvotes (not from me, mind you) are silent complaints about your first question?

Because yes, you can.

[Nursie]

That sounds good then :)

[subliminalpanda]

They say they have done it for Android, but as far as I know there hasn't been any similar announcement for iOS. There doesn't seem to be a way to verify public keys either like how Threema does.

[superuser2]

iPhone users can't do WhatsApp from their computers. I will resist WhatsApp in my social circles to the greatest extent possible until that's fixed.