Tell them it’s extremely dangerous to use whatsapp as they share their data with an entity that won’t hesitate to blow them up and their loved ones to smithereens with zero repercussions.
It’s been difficult with my family because the majority of them can use iMessage. I was able to convince a couple of them who I discuss more sensitive topics with by saying “Hey, this is something I really want to talk to you about, but I don’t feel comfortable doing so on iMessage anymore. If you want more than surface level ‘whats for dinner’ conversations, I’ll do so on Signal.”
I do have WhatsApp because my kid’s extracurricular group posts events/reminders, but I do not have conversations there.
I wish they would use whattsapp, rather than getting me to talk about sensitive and highly personal information in unencrypted channels. The obvious solution is to limit what I talk about for those who won’t switch, but it seems I’m not that responsible, especially if it means losing contact with someone important to me.
I did have someone get me to start using signal this way back in the day, though. Before that, she would make vaguely supportive statements, but not share any personal info or opinions.
When I asked why she was acting this way, she said that from a safety perspective she was only comfortable sharing that information on signal. I couldn’t really argue with that and eventually figured out how signal worked to stay in contact with her.
In your situation, I think I would get a separate device (pixel 9a grapheneos?), use it for whattsapp only over WiFi with a VPN, and check for messenges once per day or once per week. This will limit telemetry somewhat and the messenges themselves should be encrypted.
If people ask why you are slow to respond, you can explain you use a separate device for whattsapp due to not feeling safe having whattsapp on your main device due to meta’s tracking. Then on their own either they accept a slower response or move to Signal, without you coming across as controlling or critical.
1 Like
Signal is nice; for me the best reccomendation is that is used either by the POTUS administration as well as the protesters in the USA.
But I think that’s better to just not spit into the wind and look for alternative to using official Whatsapp client. Try homebrew mautrix-whatsapp server and connect it via Element X on your phone. Managing the thing looks both challenging yet fun so I’ll be doing it myself in the unspecified future.
That’s a nice Trick.
When I wanted to move from Discord to Signal, I just kindly talked to my close friends about the issues with Discord (ID verification, unsecured messages, etc) and explained that it made me feel uncomfortable using the platform. I then compared it to Signal and asked if they would feel comfortable moving over. A majority moved over.
But I think kindly talking about benefits of using Signal over WhatsApp is the play, and say that you would feel more comfortable discussing topics freely. Although the biggest factor in my opinion is how close you are to the person, if you are close, then I think the chances of them moving over are higher. Wishing you luck c:
1 Like
Not the most practical, but what it took to get pretty much everyone in my family and handful of close friends to use Signal was a major family medical emergency on my end, and I just said “I want to loop you all with what’s going on, but I don’t want to share sensitive information over Messenger/Text. Please get Signal then I can update you.”
They all got Signal and have since still use it to this day.
2 Likes
I think that actually doing a drastic drop would be the most convincing. If you tell people something like “if you still want to be in contact with me, switch to Signal and find me at this username” they will, assuming they actually still want to keep in touch, have to switch. This works surprisingly well for everything except big group chats
1 Like
I 100% agree with this. The sad reality is that you indirectly shrink your circle by doing so. Some people just aren’t willing to download an app to speak to 1 person, regardless of how valid your reason is. It puts friendships to the test, but at the same time maybe it’s needed?
2 Likes
That’s what I did 7-8 years ago and deleted WhatsApp. Never looked back.
To some degree because this:
Nearly everyone downloaded the app now. There’s still a couple of people who don’t use it and they use iMessage/SMS. I don’t reply to them until they call me 
. They’ll get the message soon I’m sure.