Facebook went down yesterday not one or two but six hours. And without Facebook, there is no Instagram and, most important of all, WhatsApp. For a company with such an important pillar of today's connected society, this can be catastrophic. What if people start looking for alternatives to WhatsApp?
There are plenty of alternatives to WhatsApp in the Google and Apple app stores and, like WhatsApp, they are free, allow you to create groups, send voice recordings, make video calls, use stickers and stupid gifs...
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The two main alternatives to WhatsApp are clear and known to many people: Telegram and Signal. From Messages on iPhone mobiles to WeChat in China, also going through Line in countries like Korea or Japan. But we will focus on the first two because they are the best known in our country.
TELEGRAM OR SIGNAL?
Telegram offers many features and has always been the most direct alternative, walking along with WhatsApp in recent years, if not directly ahead of it with more customization options. Such has been the influence that the Facebook application has been implementing new functions that Telegram already included.
On the other hand, Signal, which is somewhat less well known, is much more secure and is more recommended for those who want tight control over who and how much their messages are read. Share some ideas and ways to work with Telegram, they are far apart in terms of the data that binds each user.
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Both are available on both the Play Store and the App Store, have group chat functions, have cross-platform messaging (you can use them on mobile or PC) and allow you to exchange files, photos and videos. They also share encryption for text messages, voice and video calls.
MESSAGE PROTECTION
While in Telegram, the end-to-end encryption is only activated in the case of using the 'secret chats', in WhatsApp and Signal it comes by default in all conversations. So what type of encryption does Telegram use in conventional conversations?
Telegram breaks down the data and stores it on servers in different countries, also separating the encryption keys (codes with which a message is decoded, making it readable) from the data. In this way, court orders would be required from all the countries where the Telegram information is stored to deliver specific data.
COLLECTION OF USER DATA
WhatsApp is by far the application that links more data to each user, not only personal but also habits and consumption. For example, link phone number to ID, contacts, device ID, purchase history, phone number, location, email, and more.
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For its part, Telegram links the user ID with a phone number, contacts and account name (a nickname that you can use to communicate with other people without having to provide them with your phone number). Linking contacts can be useful when you change devices or use it on the computer, it speeds up access.
In the case of Signal, the only data that links to the user's account is the phone number. It has its pros, if you change devices a lot it can be a bit inconvenient, but in terms of privacy, it is almost unmatched.
PRIVACY AND CENSORSHIP
Both WhatsApp and Telegram and Signal share a multitude of functions, so the migration is quite simple, thanks to interfaces that will be familiar to you from one to the other. Although, for example, there is a peculiar function that Signal has that you will not find in any other, the pixelation of faces. The application itself offers the option of blurring the faces of the people that appear in a photograph.
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From the main Signal interface, select the camera-shaped icon at the bottom right, take a photo or select it from the gallery, press the pixelated circle that looks like it has a cross inside it and the application will offer you to select the face you want to blur or do it automatically. This function is also used to pixelate posters, brands or tattoos.
DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS
Specifically, the features that you will not find in Signal are: Video notes, animated stickers, channels and massive groups (up to 200,000 participants). These functions are included by Telegram, although it has a drawback that has been receiving complaints since the creation of the application.
When you create a Telegram account for the first time, it notifies all your contacts, who are already registered in the application, through a direct message. Something rather indiscreet and uncomfortable. This option can be disabled, but is enabled by default.
CONTACTS
Considering that Signal has most of the functions that you found in WhatsApp, some aspects can tip the scales to one side or the other. For example, contacts, that is, the application that your family, friends, co-workers and even your bosses decide to use.
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WhatsApp used to be the majority application, so now we will have to see which alternative application your close circles are choosing or take the initiative to tell them what advantages each one offers (or share this same article with them).
OPEN SOURCE OR BIG COMPANIES
Delving beyond the features and chassis of these apps, that is, pulling the strings and analyzing their origins, it's normal to drown in a sea of purchases, big company names, founders migrating from one to another.
That WhatsApp is owned by Facebook is something that the application itself declares as soon as it starts. For his part, Signal, formerly known as TextSecure, was created in 2010 by computer security specialist Matthew Rosenfeld, also known by his pseudonyms Moxie Marlinspike, and robotics specialist Stuart Anderson. Years later, it was bought by Twitter and its main creator then founded the new Open Whisper Systems, in order to continue developments. The Open Whispers Systems encryption system was so efficient that WhatsApp itself adopted it. Later, one of the WhatsApp founders , Brian Acton, left Facebook and invested $50 million in Signal. In the end, everything is related between the technological giants.
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Telegram, however, goes a bit on its own, it is an open source application founded by two Russian brothers, Nikolai and Pavel Durov whose development team is currently based in Dubai, since the regulation of Internet technologies information in its country, Russia, requires to provide information about its users and the founders did not accept.
Telegram's operating protocols are open, that is, the computer code on which the application is based and how it has been developed can be known. A philosophy that it shares with Signal, whose code is available on GitHub both in its mobile versions (Android and iOS) and in its desktop version.
In the case of WhatsApp, this type of information, your code, is what is called a 'black box'. All its 'guts', the algorithms and its operation are opaque and inaccessible to both users and ordinary mortals.
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