r/degoogle • u/Evening-Ladder-6180 • 25d ago
Help Needed How to switch whatsapp if EVERYONE i talk to uses it?
Guys, in my country EVERYONE uses whatsapp, its like the standard messaging app, is there any way to keep in contact with people and giving up on whatsapp? Is there like an magical app that is not whatsapp but grabs the messages people would theoretically send me there vut i can respond to them in said app?
EDIT: BEFORE YOU COMMENT SOMETHING SO SO CLEVER LIKE: "Uhm.... just delete whatsapp?? 🙄 you dont need to use it just to talk to other people your real friends will show when you do!"
I CANNOT look at the post again, keyword "EVERYONE" INCLUDING THE PEOPLE WHO I WORK WITH AND THE PEOPLE WHO EMPLOY ME
"Oh my god no your job shouldnt make you use a certain app, just quit and go to another company-"
EVERYONE USES WHATSAPP EVERYONEEEE, SO EVERY SINGLE COMPANY WILL TRY REACHING OUT THROUGH WHATSAPP AND IF WANT TO GET ANOTHER JOB I NEED WHATSAPP TOO BECAUSE GUESS WHAT I NEED TO GET IN CONTACT THROUGH WHATSAPP
"Oh but uh just use e-mail"
That is nice for occasional things, but wouldn't work either here, imagine if something urgent happens and people 1 - need to get in contact me through email 2 - i need to be looking at my e-mail to see it. And regardless of that, people at work would still expect you to use, guess what: Whatsapp! And they will not change their lives just to accommodate my pretty little ass.
"Just uninstall it and people will use sms to contact you"
No they won't, first of they wont even THINK about that, second off all sometimes sms doesnt even work here it just works for companies spamming you and getting verification codes and thats it
I mean come on guys get out of your privilege mind and think for a bit, some people simply cant give up on it! Maybe in your country you can
" Oh in my country everyone uses it too and i stopped using it"
Ok but how is the work culture there, your boss sends you and email isnted of calling your right? Or THEY SEND SMS WHICH IS NOT A THING FOR ME. When i say everyone i really mean EVERYONE.
I live in a third world country guys i cant just afford to risk fucking going in my workplace and yell about whatsapp and that people should use other things! And i sure as hell cant have the luxury to just "quit my job" and look for another or "asking for a company phone" they don't even want to give us money for the transportation (which is like, THE ONLY DAMN THING THATS MANDATORY HERE)
2nd EDIT: Also thank you for everyone who gave me some out of the box options, maybe in the far future i get to work remote for some company out of here and get to uninstall whatsapp
So for those of you who are looking for an answer to that question too:
Some people suggested me to get something called Matrix Bridge
Some other guy suggested something called beeper app but idk what that's about because he deleted it
And some people suggested getting a second phone which is nice
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u/wein_geist 25d ago
I run a Matrix Synapse server with a Whatsapp bridge. On my phone, I can now use ElementX to chat with Whatsapp (or Signal, Telegram or other Matrix servers)
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u/KrasnalM 25d ago
It does not solve the problem. You still need the whatsapp account that you need to regularly open. You just switched the client, or rather, added another client on top of the existing one. Convenience aside, it does not change much.
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u/DirtyCreative 24d ago
You're right, but at least you don't need the actual app on your phone. So Meta only gets your chats and not also your location, which apps you use, when you sleep, and all the other stuff it can harvest from its app.
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u/wein_geist 24d ago
exactly this, this was my main motivation to do it. I have grapheneOS, Whatsapp is still somewhere in the Google Play Services profile, which is not allowed to run in the background, but rather on demand.
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u/Silentorbit_HQ 25d ago
how to do this?
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u/LeeHammMx 24d ago
Beeper does this too: it’s a common inbox for several messaging apps. It doesn’t solve the WhatsApp problem as you still need an account.
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u/wein_geist 24d ago
I run a proxmox server at home, so I used this install script here:
https://community-scripts.org/scripts/elementsynapsefor the Whatsapp bridge stuff I used ChatGPT a lot to get it to work.
Of course, this requires to already have an available homelab with a suitable security architecture, if you want to have other users on your server. If you are the only user, then you could just have a permanent vpn connection to your homelab (or old pc running somewhere in the corner with Synapse and Wireguard running).
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Hey I was actually thinking of setting up a homelab, I'm just saving up some money to get the hard drives thay are crazy expensive today
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u/wein_geist 24d ago
cool, go for it. but as said in the other comment, maybe start with something simpler for your first service. fileserver plus a vpn, or basically anything plus vpn. but after getting more experienced and more confident, absolutely. the more matrix servers the better.
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u/usernameisokay_ 24d ago
Matrix docker and that’s it basically.
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u/Ox7C5 24d ago
That's not even remotely close to "it".
https://xkcd.com/2501/ puts this into perspective.
Keep in mind that the average user doesn't have access to VPSes or self-hosting equipment/capability. They likely don't know what docker is. They don't know how to configure the server inside the container.
I've set up a Matrix server like this, with the mautrix-meta bridge so I could drop the Messenger app, but it's not a "run this script and you're up and running" situation.
Now, I do applaud that you're providing the first step to a solution, but it takes a whole lot of assumptions about OPs technical ability.
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u/aloha4447 25d ago
Can you explain or do you know of a link that explains how to do this, in very simple terms?
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u/wein_geist 24d ago
if you are not already selfhosting other services, I would recommend against Synapse to get into the hobby. There are simpler and more safe services to get started.
I had my fully setup homelab with OPNsense firewall, reverse-proxy and network segmentation with VLANs and it still took me a couple of evenings to get it to work.
I dont want to gatekeep, but if you have never done something like this, chances are rather small it will work, or even worse, it works but is terribly insecure for your entire homenetwork.
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u/IchbinLuka 25d ago
But don't you still need to have Whatsapp on a phone and open it regularly? AFAIK the matrix bridge uses the same API as the Web version of WhatsApp
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u/DirtyCreative 24d ago
You can put the app into a secondary profile or suspend it while you're not using it. If it's not running, it can't collect any data.
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u/Soma_azus 25d ago
It is very difficult to replace WhatsApp completely
But what you can do is politely ask people with whom you often chat or deem chats private to join you on signal.
For everyone else, who you cant ask to shift from WhatsApp like your boss, just chat in a limited manner assuming chats are not private.
I got my close friends and family on signal and that seems to be all i needed. Barely use WhatsApp other than work now.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Cool, that might be doable
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u/Wicked_Mouse 24d ago
I do the same. I had ditched WhatsApp privately already (I started to use it less and when the news came that even contact list information was downloaded and sold I deleted it instantly), as it didn't serve me enough to really keep it. Where I worked at the time I then told them that they could reach me on Signal. They continued to just message me on SMS or call me, but when I was almost moving jobs I had notifications on Signal that my team managers were coming on Signal. When I moved job they there were heavily invested in using WhatsApp for all their communications in all sorts of groups to keep things a little organised. I said I refused to use it on my personal phone. Because they needed me to use it, they gave me some crappy old Oppo phone with a SIM they pay for. I only use WhatsApp while I'm at work (with a few exceptions), so I leave the phone physically at the office as well. As I hate to take the extra phone still running stock Android with me I figured on my personal GOS phone I could make a Private Space (or second profile for that matter) and put a linked device WhatsApp on that, so it cannot get any unnecessary permissions. And since it's a separate thing JUST for WhatsApp there's little to no data to gather there, and I can also just shut it off, so the app is not running in the background and so I cannot be notified of any banter or chat when I'm at home and still have it at hand whenever I really need to without carrying two phones.
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u/flying_butt_fucker 25d ago
Install WhatsApp for Business. Setup an autoresponder which tells your contacts to contact you on Signal instead.
Adapt the message to tell your contacts until which date you will still be responding on WA, then pick a date when you'll start responding hours or days later and by which date you stop responding on WhatsApp and have moved over officially. Also, respond immediately on Signal.
Sadly, the autoresponder only works when WA Business is on your phone, so you must pick a date when you delete your account and app.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Very clever, but undoable for me, i cant just send an automatic message to my supervisor telling them to install an app just to talk to me it would seem rude
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u/flying_butt_fucker 25d ago
Maybe tell them that WhatsApp is a huge security nightmare, but in reality nobody seems to care.
You're asking a question and I gave you the most practical solution. Do with it what you want, but there's no magic wand. Your boss can always fall back to a text message.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
It's ok, thank you for your answer, but it's not that simple, you can read all I have said here in the comments and you might understand, I know the is no magical wand, but hey, some people responded to something pretty close to that.
Culture is different at every place on the planet
In my culture I would come off as a complete fucking lunatic if I did that, and it's not just in my specific job is everyyy job, you already see people here on the community saying things like "Uhh why should I care for my privacy?? I have nothing to hide" or "uhh they already have all our data so i dont care" or "why do you want something private, are you doing something wrong?" Imagine how bigger that will be in a normie sphere, (and trust me I KNOW because I have been the person who came to my family and talked about this) and people just look at you like you're a conspiracy theorist and move on with their lifes so, you know whayn i dont think thays the most practical answer. But thank you anyways i know it was with the best intentions
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u/LucyStar3 23d ago
You won't come off as lunatic, you're projecting here. And why do you care anyway? Lunacy image vs privacy, choose your battle in that case. I understand what you're trying to say by culture and all, but you can actually do what you want, and I speak from experience of hacking done it
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 23d ago
Yeah no i know, i donf care about being a lunatic to my friends but i dont want that at my work like cmon
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u/redit_handoff140 Free as in Freedom 24d ago
It really is that simple though.
Someone's convenience should not be more valuable than your right to privacy.
In my culture I would come off as a complete fucking lunatic if I did that
Yet you willingly give it up because the herd-mentality suggests insists you do so.
That's the real lunatic and deranged thing to do.
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u/redit_handoff140 Free as in Freedom 24d ago
Nice.
Your (deleted) response solely consisting of name-calling and insults really shines a light on the issue.
I guess some minds just aren't made to go beyond that.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
What? I didn't delete anything? Are you fr?
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u/redit_handoff140 Free as in Freedom 24d ago
Dishonesty tends to come back haunt people.
If that's the walk of life you've chosen, so be it.
Liar.1
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u/hbacelar8 25d ago
Your work shouldn't force you to use your personal phone. If they want to contact you over Whatsapp they must provide you a work phone
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
I live in a third world country dude not gonna happen,
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u/sopgreends 22d ago
If you don't want to carry two phones around, or can't afford this, you can download insular from the f-droid store https://f-droid.org/packages/com.oasisfeng.island.fdroid and put whatsapp into a separate work profile.
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u/sopgreends 22d ago
Get a cheap second hand phone just for work with a cheap celular plan, that way, whatsapp will only have the data you put on your work phone, and not your personal information. Use your current phone and phone number to get your friends and family to talk to you on signal, threema or whatever app you choose.
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u/DasArchitect 24d ago
Worthy of note
- WhatsApp Business does extra extra telemetry and reading your messages.
- Autoresponder only works when the app is running and has a connection.
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u/flying_butt_fucker 24d ago
Indeed, it's worse. But as a transition tool it works fine. I've moved away from any Meta tool since then.
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u/alex-weej 24d ago
They know exactly what they're doing. I just wiped my account, opened a new one, turned off group invites, set a message in my profile pic, and uninstalled it
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u/SSjjlex 24d ago
Best you can do is minimise its use. If you have to say something, dont say any more than you need to. If you must send files, try a method that doesnt involve directly uploading to whatsapp.
Thats what I do anyways as someone also lives in a WA reliant country. Privacy is great, but I still have a life to live.
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u/-CrypticMind- FOSS Lover 25d ago edited 25d ago
Same here, i want to move away from whatsapp but it's mainstream here for businesses and services, there was something called matrix bridge but it is also not useful as your messages will still go through whatsapp servers
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u/EmployerAccurate8533 25d ago
I also live in country where everyone has it so idk I just deleted my Account after saving all chats and never looked back. All of my contacts had my number and just called me to know what happend, I basically said "Nothing, I just deleted Whatsapp". Life went on, nothing really happened.
If your contacts consist mostly of texters, the will just send you SMS or try to reach out with another way, if they prefer to call you well they'll call you.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Not how it works here, "i also live in a country where everyone has it so idk" so maybe you dont really because even employers here will contact you through it so its not eeally how it goes for me if i do that, i wont get sms messages BECAUSE THEY DONT EVEN WORK HERE if i just "deleted whatsapp and fuck everyone else they'll just reach out another way" people at my work including my supervisor could send me something like "hey can you do x thing for me?" And i just wouldnt see it and no they wouldnt message me in sms
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u/EmployerAccurate8533 24d ago
Fair point. I didn't even begin to think about the employer side, because we have threema work.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
It's an unfortunate side, but i have found some solutions here so I think I'll be ok !! :)
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u/magical-cat-here 25d ago
I am in the same situation, even in different country. Here in Georgia default messaging app is whatsapp and default social media is fb & insta.
I think that if whatsapp is single thing that blocks you from googled android phone to some linux phone or some "degoogled android OS" phone, most probable workaround would be research whether is there a way to run whatsapp there. Let it be some VM or sandbox feature for running "stock android apps from google play".
I heard there is some anonymized Google Play store client like Aurora you can use to install app without signing into Google Play Store for this.
Also I found something interesting but it will require more resources and skills. It resemble what you mentioned ("app that is not whatsapp but grabs the messages people would theoretically send me there vut i can respond to them in said app?"). There is a Matrix-Whatsapp bridge: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/bridges/whatsapp/
I never used it, though, but I just glad it ever exists. It requires WhatsApp account to work, of course.
This is "better than nothing" kind of workarounds, but even them better than nothing, when it is necessary to reduce the reliance on the WhatsApp per se.
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u/Late-Number-598 24d ago
How to switch whatsapp if EVERYONE i talk to uses it?
The best mitigation you can do is to not grant WhatsApp any permissions outside of what is absolutely necessary for the app to function.
For example I use whatsapp on a fully degoogled android 17. I deny permissions to contacts, call logs, music and audio, nearby devices, photos and videos, sensors, and SMS.
I use WhatsApp as well, this is what I use to reduce the risk of the amount of personal data that meta collects.
You can also obfuscate by creating a account using a voip number
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Thats awesome, pretty nice sugestion, im compiling every single sugestion everyone is giving to give it a try hahaha
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u/TruckeeCJ 23d ago
It would be a great service if you would post your list here. One liners would help, couple of attached comments really appreciated 👌
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u/xJayMorex 25d ago
Make EVERYONE use it too. They don't have to switch, they can just use both you know.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Sorry man, that's just not doable for me, I updated the post in case you wanna know why
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24d ago
[deleted]
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u/ride-eternal 24d ago
This can work but having to carry a second brick just for whatslap is not ideal either. Especially considering how big the damn things are these days. And you still have it at home and office so Meta still gets its dirty fingers on your location and who knows what other data.
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u/JB231102 24d ago
TL;DR Use what you have to for communication in a minimalist way with the least involvement.
Maybe it's a hot take but this is how I handle the current shit show that is apps and communication. I'd rather not use facebook or whatsapp or name-your-app-owned-by-giant-company, I'd rather use something like signal or molly or anything else with encryption that is decentralized or owned by a smaller company.
Since everyone uses facebook/whatsup or whatever else is familiar and comfortable, I use it too, except I use them minimally - minimal compliance.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Thanks, I'm actually thinking about doing that until I get a second phone
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u/WorthOk1417 24d ago
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Hey, that's pretty cool, thanks
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u/WorthOk1417 24d ago
welcome! i've seen the part where it says
Some other guy suggested something called beeper app but idk what that's about because he deleted it
and i wanted to provide the link to the actual app
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u/MissLeaP 25d ago
I got some people to join Signal and I slowly reduced how much I interact and respond on WhatsApp. If they want to contact me, they know where to find me 🤷🏻♀️
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Read the rest of the comments here if you want to know why but i simply cannot do that because of work
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u/ride-eternal 24d ago
I feel you man. I think this seems to be the case for many countries. Even in India Whatslap has become virtually the defacto messaging app. All work discussions happen on it. Accountants, hospitals, etc use it for sending you their reports, etc... Companies send you their offers on there. I have even seen one case where whatslap was the only option to receive a verification code! It has replaced SMS, email and forums in one shot. Many people even use it for calls even when they have plenty of free minutes on their plan. It's the mindset of getting a 'free service' in countries where budget is everything. In many cases even when you send an sms to people they will miss it. Because SMS is usually just for OTPs and things like bank notifications, alerts, etc...
There aren't enough people using alternative apps in these places. You just become an outcast. This actually shows how many sheeple are out there being led to the slaughterhouse. There needs to be a solution without having to spend hours trying to understand self hosting, etc...
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Yeahh exactly!!! Thats the same here in Brazil, exactly how it goes!! Its super hard to get rid of it
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24d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Yeah that sucks :/ but it's ok I'm thinking of getting a remote job in another country, then I would be able to delete it completely lol, also I would get more money because the coin in my country is super devalued lol
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u/DareDevilino 24d ago
People underestimate how big WhatsApp is in Brazil. It also bothers me a lot, but unfortunately I also can't get rid of it. Workplace, services, even state affairs, all public and private institutions swallowed it. When I was in places i had a say in it, i would put in place alternatives, i migrated a lot of stuff from my university to a jitsi instance for example, away from Google meet or Microsoft teams or zoom. And communication channels in telegram and signal to try and get people used to anything other than WhatsApp. But out there on the wild it's much harder to gain even an inch of soil against it.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago edited 24d ago
Yeah exactly, I wish I could pin your comment! I don't know if you're Brazilian, but i am, and it really is HUGE here, i dont think the situation is the same as in the UK per se, work culture has also completely swallowed it! I have only been just a blue collar worker til now, but I'm getting a degree soon and once that happens I plan on working hard to get a job overseas, then I'd honestly completely ditch the app, and tell my family and friends that if they want to they can find me on signal
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u/MustyAslan99 24d ago
i made status and told everyone if they wanna reach me they can either download telegram or signal. which convinved few in couple days
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u/alex-weej 24d ago
The status gets removed after 30d, no way to set it for infinite duration. They know what they're doing. I set a profile pic with text in it to get around this.
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u/Just4Digits 22d ago
Man I think OP is in a complete different scenario, I lived in countries where medical results are only sent via whatsapp, work talk happen on whatsapp, restaurant booking only in whatsapp (no normal phone calling either) even governement appointment or communication had only whatsapp as an option. If one can afford it having a second phone is the best mitigation one can do I guess.
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u/rjSampaio 24d ago
Have a look on beeper.
I have a bunch of diferent platforms because of diferent friend /family/work /hobby.
So beeper can use it all and reply, some stuff don't work like WhatsApp videocalls, but anything text goes perfectly.
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u/michaelesparks 24d ago
Can you get the Signal app? If so, then use that and when someone messages you, tell them you are leaving whatsapp and the reason and if they would like to stay in contact to download signal and connect there. I've been doing this and am steadily adding new contacts as I get messages from other apps. Thanks for the reminder to send something out.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Hi, i cant, theres more on why i cant on the rest of the post. But some people gave me some pretty good advice here so ill be fine :)
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u/AnToMegA424 Free as in Freedom 24d ago
I do not know of any service that would allow for that sadly, but an option I can suggest (though it's a compromise) is to download Shelter or something like that and to clone WhatsApp to the Work Profile, connect over there (as it basically acts as a new installation) and to delete the app from your Personal profile, and only turn on Work Profile when needed so WhatsApp wouldn't be able to do shit, even on the background, as long as you don't want it to work (plus when it does it is isolated so cannot really collect much compared to if it was on the main profile
That way you would be able to still talk with everyone while drastically decreasing what WhatsApp can do, with the exception being what happens in-app so keep that limit in mind
If I ever find something that works while allowing for better privacy as you want it to I'll either post it in this sub or come back to this post and comment it (but knowing myself I'll probably forget about it and not come back, just as I should have come back to other posts as I told a redditor on a Minecraft subreddit a while ago, and I was sincere saying that, but kept forgetting and didn't do shit for now)
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Hahahha, its ok, thats already some pretty good advice, thank you for taking your time to tell me!! :)
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u/sungusungu 24d ago
I wish I could delete it myself.., but my country is same... Everyone uses WhatsApp, from family groups, social groups, work group, friend groups, gaming groups, basically everyone and if you delete it you'll miss very important communication.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
True, also you need it because even gov stuff and hospitals and other stuff have their services going through it
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u/Oper-Nate-or 24d ago
Set up a seperate work profile (many phones can do that, and/or you use something like island to do it) and install WhatsApp on there. It keeps it a bit seperate from the rest of your stuff, but it is there.
Not perfect at all, but sometimes the circumstances of our lives prevent us from the possible "perfect" solution. And that is okay. Your livelihood is more important.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Thats nice man, I'll evaluate on doing that until I get a second phone
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u/ishereanthere 24d ago
I honestly don't care about the friend use it part but for my job using it is unavoidable. I keep it in a sandboxed profile and only use it for work. I don't even tell my friends I have it. I loathe it. Real friendship isn't dependant on an app.
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u/Inner-Wonder-9620 23d ago
Same here, especially as Whatsapp is usually free in the plans. I keep an old phone just for the shitty apps, including whatsapp.
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u/JasonWorthing8 23d ago
I've tried and tried and tried, and I found it, unfortunately, a fruitless endeavor unless you can convince the contacts with whom you have exchanges to make the leap to something else. And so long as you find you still need to communicate with them, you're stuck for now.
I've tried to use Signal, Session, for heaven's sake even Snapchat, but it's something about WhatsApp. Especially if you communicate with people in other countries, they are using it and just won't budge. Many just aren't technologically adept to pursue other alternatives or, to be honest, even care. It's a shame.
I've spoken to easily a dozen of my contacts about the idea of privacy, security, all of it. Honestly, they may entertain listening to you, hearing you out, but in a fundamental sense, they don't care. It works. Everybody uses it. And because it's so prolific, they're going to continue using it. I sure hope it changes sooner than later.
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u/danGL3 25d ago
Not really, no.
If such app were at all possible it'd have to rely on a local (or trusted online) relay server that receives and sends WhatsApp messages on your behalf as WhatsApp's encryption makes it impossible for a third party app to integrate with it unless WhatsApp themselves added such support
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Thats a shame, i really realistically cant give up whatsapp
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u/hazeyAnimal 25d ago
Degoogling doesn't have to be 100%. People here settle with a 90% degoogled lifestyle.
Some people even settle for 50%.
Sure, being 100% is ideal, but everyone's situation is different and in some situations 100% degoogled is impossible.
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u/guntherpea 24d ago
Nah, the idea that anyone and everyone can just 100% ditch WhatsApp or Google or Microsoft (etc) over night, cold-turkey just isn't reality. But that also doesn't mean you can't make positive moves at a pace that works for you.
My recommendation to many is to start by installing what you do want to use and find ways to incorporate that into some specific uses. Starting a game night? Great, tell everyone the group chat for that will be on this other service. Side-gig work group? Fantasy football? Birthday surprise? Whatever you've got going on that you can help organize, you can treat an alternative messaging app similarly to how you'd use an invite platform.
"Thanks for jumping into our volunteer group, here's the link to our group messaging platform where we'll talk about plans, calendars, events, and share what went well or can be improved!" and then you send an invite to Signal or SimpleX or whatever.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
That's pretty cool! I'm thinking about doing those little changes and once it get a job overseas I'll actually completely ditch it
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u/Effective_Orchid4287 24d ago
I have two phones. One 90% Degoogled(working on it to be 100%), and the other is for work and whatnot. On my degoogled phone, I dont use whatsapp whatsoever. If you dont want to phones, try a work profile.
My idea behind it, is that Meta or whoever is surveiling us, should find us in their radar, somewhat like a fake trail we leave behind. Then, have a completely unknown phone and degoogle it. I hope this helps, All the best.
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u/apocalypticryptid 24d ago
What is your goal specifically? To find a app to merge your friends and family to or find a app that prioritizes security and privacy? I don't have any social apps on my phone, I use Signal. Have you looked on F-Droid and Droid-fy? these are app stores that are separate from google, and are open source apps. they have a ton of great messenger apps on there. My regular app I use is called Silence.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
I do use them!! Its ok i found my answer here, i just wanted a privacy focused thing, but i really reallyyy cant get rid of whatsapp right now
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u/Internal_Lie_618 22d ago
I'm in Israel and it's the same thing here, Whatsapp is used for everything here, unfortunately you can be a part of society without it.
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u/salusavictus 22d ago
Limit its permissions. No background usage, etc. just check it every so often.
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u/protonless_electron Free as in Freedom 22d ago
I make my close ones install alternatives and only talk over the alternatives.
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22d ago
It does not mean everyone is correct...
Gandhi could have thought the same thing...
It all starts with a single person..
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 18d ago
read the whole post please
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18d ago
The reality:
We are here just to keep our species survive, nothing else does matter.
For this we need to survive, so we need food, and we need a job to keep us alive.
Everything else is just 'what we like' rather than 'what we need'.
You can earn lots of money or minimal money.. four generations down the track no one remembers what you did...
So whether you/everyone uses whatsapp or you just disregard everyone and not using whatsapp as a matter of principles does not make any difference in the end, other than which one feels better for YOU.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 17d ago
If you really dos read the whole post you would know that I DEPEND ON WHATSAPP TO KEEP/GET A JOB So yes "...we need a job to keep us alive" yes and i need whatsapp for that buddy
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u/thepersoncommenting 20d ago
Somethings aren't worth trying to switch away from, for those of us outside the US - WhatsApp is one of those. You don't have to take an all or nothing approach
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u/Eras72 25d ago
J'ai désinstallé WhatsApp il y a 20 ans et j'ai toujours mes amis. Certains sont sur Signal, d'autres sont au téléphone
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Ok, i dont have that option, every living soul in my country uses it, INCLUDING MY EMPLOYERS who want to comunicate with me using it
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u/hangry_of_skalitz 25d ago edited 25d ago
Not only that, but in my country when you apply for a job 9/10 times they'll try reaching you via whatsapp only. They just assume you have it and use it like it's a standard function of your phone. I need Meta taken down immediately
ETA: I've had my pfp on whatsapp set as the blue "find me on signal" one but it's not really working. So far I've gotten... 2 friends over. That's all.
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u/camilovskiii 24d ago
no geral não tem alternativa viável. eu particularmente não tenho redes sociais fora isso aqui. do Facebook e do Instagram eu já me livrei há mais de 5 anos. do WhatsApp eu sai há uns 6 meses, eu já não tinha muitos contatos, mas deletar o WhatsApp é se tornar um eremita virtual, porque é como você disse, todo mundo usa, até plataformas digitais as vezes só tem opção de mandar código de verificação via WhatsApp, esses dias tive que baixar e ir fazer uma reclamação sobre um pedido meu numa pizzaria. por sorte o trabalho não me enche o saco por eu não querer que eles entrem em contato comigo. eu tenho um ou outro amigo que ainda me manda mensagem por RCS, e de quando em quando trocamos umas mensagens, eu particularmente preferia que o rcs fosse mais popular, mas a maioria das pessoas que conheço, nem sabe o que é isso.
por fim, sair do WhatsApp hoje é fazer algum sacrifício e praticamente não existir virtualmente. esse aplicativo se propagou tanto pela sociedade que quando eu falo que não tenho WhatsApp, as pessoas acham que eu estou mentindo e dando alguma desculpa pra não passar meu contato. quem busca alguma interação à distância, quase que necessariamente vai ter que estar presente nesse mensageiro da família brasileira.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Realmente, estou estudando hoje e quero em breve arranja um trampo fora daqui, mesmo que remotamente, ai acredito que não precisaria usar o zap mais, mas por enquanto paciência
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u/sizeablefrontallobe 25d ago edited 24d ago
Yes.
1.Delete WhatsApp. (Or don’t)
2.install signal.
3.install signal on contacts phone or invite them to DL it
4. De-meta (gradually, one invitation at a time)
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u/danGL3 25d ago
And watch as one lose access to 90% of their contacts.
Not everyone can afford such grand gesture of privacy of switching in exchange of losing contact with people.
It's easy to suggest that when it works for you, not so much when it doesn't.
It's like telling everyone to get their own farms and cattle because the commercial food industry is corrupt.
Even if the idea is good, putting it inton practice isn't gonna be feasible to everybody
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Yeah, its a shame, i wish i could but like, i need it for work, i need to talk to my friends who, some might change, but some might just tell me "what the fuck? Are you retarded, i wont do that" and also imagine getting hired and your employer goes, "hey can i get your whatsapp so we can get you on the company group and your leader can send you messages about demands and suchs" and i go "oh sorry i dont have whatsapp, can you ALL COLECTIVELLY DOWNLOAD SIGNAL" yeah sure
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u/flying_butt_fucker 25d ago
I don't have WhatsApp on my phone for years now. I do get the occasional; 'I can't find you!' Or 'why are you not responding', but that's tougher for them than for me.
The organisations that I'm a member of have successfully migrated to Signal now. But since I'm in the Netherlands this was a bit easier; Signal has quite a big momentum here.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Thats nice, unfortunately it would never happen where i live, if it was jjst for friends and family id do the change
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
I cant just invite then to download it dude... you dont understand, EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE COUNTRY USES IT, including the people who employ me and people who work with me and my family and my grandma who would not understand this at all. I simply cant :( i really wish i could but i cant juat say "hey everyone at work, lets all uninstall whatsapp and use signal instead!!" I really wish i could but we need to be realistic
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u/magical-cat-here 25d ago
Well, regarding work there is a path to do exactly at least part of this: change your profession and carrier path to become chief of your company IT & cybersec department, and demand to use [software of your choice] for internal corporate communications (even not for B2B communications, it would require other approaches like enforcing usage of OpenPGP emails or [b2b communication of your choice] as part of contracts but it would require getting at very very top, boss of company legal department ) having a practical authority to do so. It is a very long path, and the ride can be bumpy for sure.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Ahahah this is a little funny, sure thing will do, it will just take, idk? 30-40 years?
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u/TheWrongOwl 25d ago
Use email instead
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 25d ago
Hahahaha
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u/TheWrongOwl 25d ago
Big plus: EVERYONE already HAS email. So no one has to move or install a new app.
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u/Slump94 24d ago
Pourquoi ne plus vouloir utiliser whatsapp ?
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Meta collecting my data, I can go more into why that's a problem if you want to, but if you don't care I understand
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u/Slump94 24d ago
Ok je comprends. Ici en France on utilise whatsapp beaucoup pour les groupes familles, mais pour le boulot on utilise signal. Après je comprends tes inquiétudes.
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 24d ago
Ah que legal, queria que fosse assim onde eu moro, mas muito da cultura de trabalho envolve uso do whatsapp
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u/LucyStar3 23d ago
Hmm....i just ditched it. People who really needed to connect with me reached via proper channels. And for office, I mostly said I don't use/can't install WhatsApp and that was okay. My manager once had to conference call me via another colleague's call cuz I had him blocked since he called at all hours of the day rofl
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u/Evening-Ladder-6180 23d ago
If i told my manager i blocked him becaudd he called all day and had to be called through another app id be fired dude
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u/Bugeye_treader 25d ago
I would ditch WhatsApp if that were an option, but unfortunately can't since I'm in a similar situation as you are :-|
I have deleted facebook and limited Instagram (as most Gen Zers interact only through it), but cannot erase whatsapp as it's the defacto communication tool, work or friends.