5 Best Whatsapp Alternatives
There are more than 2 billion people around the world that use Whatsapp, a messenger app that connects people around the world, with nearly a quarter of the users coming from India and Brazil. However, there are several major countries in which Whatsapp isn’t widely used, and there may be some concerns regarding data protection.
For these reasons, Whatsapp may not be the best messaging tool for everyone. The good news, though, is that there are plenty of alternatives that do the trick. Here are five Whatsapp alternatives to use if you’re looking for something that’s more commonly used in your area or perhaps safer to use.
Signal
The Signal messaging app was developed by the Signal Technology Foundation in 2018. The company was founded by Moxie Marlinspike and Brian Acton that same year. Signal offers a safer, encrypted, global form of communication. Similar to WhatsApp, users can communicate with people all over the world via messages, video calls, and audio calls.
Signal is free to users and offers a secure place for your private conversations. Third parties can’t access the content within your app and you can hide conversations from your friends, or anyone who has access to your phone.
Telegram
Telegram is another free-to-use app that offers similar services to WhatsApp. Telegram gives users a private, encrypted, and safer platform for messages, audio calls, video calls, and file sharing of up to 1.5GB, unlike other communication apps.
Also offering communication in at least 12 languages. The Telegram app was released for iOS and Android in 2013, developed by brothers Nikola and Pavel Durov. It’s one of the most popular secure messenger apps available today, with over 1 billion downloads and over 50 million active users as of 2021.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger is the most popular messenger app in North America and is the official messenger for the Facebook app. It was first developed as a feature on the Facebook website in 2008, years later becoming its own messenger app for iOS and Android in 2011 and adding the audio and video calling features in 2018.
The app allows you to send money back and forth, take and share pictures, share your screen during calls, secret messaging, and communicate with users all over the Facebook world. Users can communicate with over 100 languages offered through the app. Although a great alternative to WhatsApp, the Facebook messenger doesn’t offer anonymity.
Viber
Viber, also known as Rakuten Viber, is a free app, with paid calling options available, for iOS, Android, and PC. It was released in 2010 after being developed by Viber Media, which was later bought out by the Japanese company Rakuten in 2014 for $900 million.
Users can send encrypted messages back and forth, audio calls, and video calls, send photos, and share group chats with unlimited members and plenty of admin features.
Kik Messenger
Kik Messenger is a free app developed and owned by MediaLab AI, Inc. Released in 2010, Kik quickly became popular among the younger crowds, with about 40% of teenagers using the app in 2016. Kik is a simple and easy-to-use messenger. You don’t need to enter much personal information to sign up, just your username/email, birthdate, and password.
The app does log your IP address and doesn’t offer message encryption, but allows for total anonymity otherwise. You can message worldwide, audio call, video call, share photos, and join group community chats based on your interests. A great feature included in the app to prevent nefarious acts is the addition of SafePhoto, a feature that prevents, reports, and deletes exploitative images of children.
