Overview of WhatsApp privacy issues.
WhatsApp has a couple of issues that seem to all be hitting at the same time. One issue appeared January 10, 2022, when WhatsApp group invite links and user profiles started appearing in Google searches. This could allow someone who spotted such links in a Google search to join the indexed groups.
Thousands of user profiles were also indexed by Google, which could lead to a user’s data, including phone number and profile photo, being exposed to outsiders. WhatsApp has reportedly fixed the Google indexing problem — but it may be too late if your data has already been exposed in the wild.
The other issue bedeviling the service right now is their new Terms of Service. Those terms will require users to consent to WhatsApp sharing user data with Facebook. Yes, this is the same Facebook that has been plagued with privacy scandals over the years. And if users didn't consent to this sharing by February 8, 2022, they will not be able to use the service any more.
What kind of data will WhatsApp share with Facebook? Sensitive data that many people won’t want shared. It reportedly includes your user ID, device ID, hardware model, operating system, battery level, signal strength, app version, browser info, mobile network, language, time zone, IP address, phone number, email address, contacts, advertising data, and payment information.
Top 5 Alternatives to WhatsApp
There isn’t any one stop service that works as a direct replacement for Facebook’s WhatsApp. If you ignore the privacy issues, it is an excellent product, with tons of features and a multi-billion person user base. Our 5 best WhatsApp alternatives each have their own merits. What they do all have in common is that they don’t collect massive amounts of user data, metadata, or personally identifiable information, and they aren’t about to share it all with Facebook.
Signal is a free messenger that features secure, end-to-end encrypted text, voice, and video chats, voice and video calls, as well as secure file and photo transfers. It is built around the Signal Messaging Protocol, widely recognized as the most secure messaging protocol available.More importantly for this conversation, Signal goes out of its way to gather and store as little of your data as possible. Whereas WhatsApp gathers loads of information and stores it in their own servers.
2. TelegramTelegram is another good option if you want to escape from the WhatsApp data disaster. It offers the similar capabilities to WhatsApp, along with a huge user base. Most of the people you want to talk to are likely already using it. Telegram is cloud-based, which lets you use it on multiple devices simultaneously.They gather less data than WhatsApp does, and they don’t hand any of it over to Facebook. However, they do use server-side encryption for private and group chats that are stored on their servers. You’ll want to use Secret Chats for the most private communications, since encryption is not enabled by default with the Telegram app.
3. ThreemaThreema is a mature, powerful messaging app that somehow never gained a wide audience. Unlike some of the other WhatsApp alternatives in this guide, Threema is not free. It costs £1.99, but you don’t have to go through the Google Play Store — the APK is also available for direct purchase and download. With only a few million users worldwide, chances are that most of your contacts have never heard of Threema, much less used it. But if you are concerned with protecting your data from being used by others, it might be exactly the WhatsApp alternative you need.
4. WireWire is a corporate collaboration suite with secure messaging, group chat capabilities, file-sharing, and more. They also offer Wire Personal, which can be a good replacement for WhatsApp. Wire Personal is open source, end-to-end encrypted software, and it is completely free to use.Like Threema, Wire Personal has a very small user base of only a few hundred thousand users. While it is free and works great now for personal use, it might not be a long-term solution given its limited adoption.
5. Wickr MeYou know a messenger app is secure when an elite military force chooses to use it for communication in a combat zone. Wickr was recommended for use by the 82nd Airborne’s Task Force Devil when they were deployed at an unidentified location in the Middle East. If the Wickr product line is good enough for them, then Wickr Me is surely a good enough WhatsApp replacement for us civilians. Wickr Me uses anonymous accounts. With no personally identifiable information for them to log, the kind of problem we are seeing with WhatsApp’s use of metadata can’t exist.
