We’ve all heard how Facebook wants to merge its three messaging services, Facebook Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp into a single messaging platform.
It might make sense, due to the fact that it will break down all of the walls between all the apps owned by Facebook. No matter the result, the messages will be end-to-end encrypted, according to some sources, and every app will remain separate with its own icon in your phone. However, even with all the promises, WhatsApp still has some privacy problems, and people have started to look for alternatives. Here’s what we recommend you to try:
Signal
It seems that everybody recommends this messaging app, due to the fact that it has a high level of privacy, transparency and user security. You can send texts and group messages, media, from pictures to audio and video, to documents. You can also make video calls.
For Android, it also works as an SMS app.
Viber
With Viber, you get to enjoy group chats, video messaging, even gifs and stickers. You can install some chat extensions and make the most out of the app, by sharing YouTube videos, music from Spotify and share location info. With Viber, you can also make audio or video calls. Keep in mind that calls made between Viber users are totally free, and you can even make international calls.
Also, the messages can be timed to self-delete.
Telegram Messenger
Just like the others, Telegram offers end-to-end encryption and it also has auto-deletion settings. You will be able to send texts and media, and group messages. There can be about 200,000 people in one chat thread.
Telegram claims to deliver messages faster than any other messaging app that’s out there, due to the fact that its chat runs on globally-distributed servers. This also means that you can sync messages across all of your devices.
Tim M. Hill helped bring Digital-Overload from a weekly newsletter to a full-fledged news site by creating a new website and branding. He continues to assist in keeping the site responsive and well organized for the readers. As a writer to Digital-Overload, Tim mainly covers mobile news and gadgets.
