Do you think Whastapp is used widely in the UK?

I only use it for work groups/communication. Wish I didn't have to have it but every single person at my workplace unfortunately uses it, so it's the defacto app

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Personally, I'm just not a person who needs to be in constant communication with people. I know that's not the norm these days though, it's just not for me! Much prefer a phonecall with friends and family for catchups

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chrislomax83@reddit

I know a lot of people who jumped ship on the meta takeover in favour of Telegram or Signal. I have 7 or 8 messaging apps I use daily depending on who is messaging me. My main friend groups use WhatsApp for group messages. My Mum on messenger Some clients on Telegram Some younger friends and my younger brother on instagram Friends and majority of chats on WhatsApp Older family on text Work on teams and slack Outside friends on Snapchat And good old email So actually 9. 9 things I have to check. I mainly have all my chats muted to come back to when I have time to look. We need a unified app. Feel like I’m back to where I was in earlier 2000s with a unified app

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IpromithiusI@reddit

You can guarantee if you had a unified app there would swiftly be another mass paranoia about it's ownership.

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chrislomax83@reddit

It as a little tongue in cheek really. We’ve had all this with MSN / AIM / ICQ back in the early 2000s and there was a unified app. Can’t remember the name now, jabber maybe?

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IpromithiusI@reddit

I remember Pidgin, now that's something I've not thought about for 20 years, jesus.

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Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

The young ones don’t really use it. My 11 and fifteen year olds do but they’re a minority among their peers. The rest of the 25+ age group do. It’s free, it’s got good group chat functions, it’s easy to share different types of media - pics, vids, documents etc, it’s got a fairly easy to use interface for the geriatrics and the technology stupids in the family/parents groups/work chats etc and it works across both iPhone and android.

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jj198handsy@reddit

> The young ones don’t really use it. What do they use instead?

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Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

iMessage. Or Snapchat. My kids only use it coz my dads Irish so half the family are across the water and it’s not easy to visit

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jj198handsy@reddit

> Snapchat Had no idea that was still a thing!

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Agreeable_Fig_3713@reddit

Definitely with the upper primary and highschool age kids. The girls tend to be into insta too but not so much the boys and it’s only boys I’ve got in school. My daughters too young for a phone yet

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Scarred_fish@reddit

It's a "boomer" thing a bit like Facebook, no young people use it. Source - 19yo daughter and coaching under 18's footie.

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Just_Arachnid_6033@reddit

Everywhere I know uses WhatsApp. I didn't for ages, until I started missing important discussions and messages on my job because everyone but me was on WhatsApp. In Denmark most people just use Facebook, probably because people are actually quite private on Facebook and they don't like sharing their personal numbers with their bosses, managers, coworkers or acquaintances etc. It still feels weird to me quite honestly, but I do use it now for most communication with English people - but Facebook to speak to my family, Danish friends, pretty much everyone else.. whatsapp is seen as outdated and weird - kind of like Kik etc.

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TheDettiEskimo@reddit

What the fuck do you use if you don't use WhatsApp. I have never met anyone not on it.

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cifala@reddit

I searched for something on my Facebook messenger last week, and was reminded of how that used to be my main messaging app 10 years ago. I only have one friend who still prefers messaging me there and he’s Belgian

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TheDettiEskimo@reddit

Yeah I don't have Facebook anymore. My gaming group still.has a chat on that so they have to repay stuff to me but it seems they are slowly making the transition.

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terryjuicelawson@reddit

Very. I only first got it like many people as you could use it over internet, plus chat messages were longer than SMS. Then all the functions became apparent like group messages and sharing content and it blew up. My elderly parents use it, friends, colleagues, school run Dads, clubs, groups, the lot.

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Radiant_Fondant_4097@reddit

Everyone uses WhatsApp because everyone else uses WhatsApp. Unless something else comes along which guarantees platform agnostic group communication which is free and piss easy to use I doubt it'll change any time soon.

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Throwaway-28218129@reddit

Saw it in a group of "Old People Apps" once

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durkheim98@reddit

I don't use it because it's invasive. I use Telegram but that's more to do with the censorship on Instagram forcing pages that deal with news/journalism to move onto there.

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mr-dirtybassist@reddit

Yes. Everybody I know has it

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scionanimate@reddit

A lot of my family and friends use it. I do not as it is not secure in any way. I'm sure many people in the UK use it though.

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Jimmy90081@reddit

lol, why do you think it’s not secure? It uses end to end encryption

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scionanimate@reddit

The encryption they use is very easy to crack, I assure you.

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Jimmy90081@reddit

Can you link out to studies on this? Or proof? They use end to end encryption to protect content using the strictest to TLS standards. Not even WhatsApp can see your content. Now… date / time / destination / source… sure. But not content.

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scionanimate@reddit

But if your metadata (time, source,location) isn't encrypted then why do you have so much faith that everything else is secure?

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Jimmy90081@reddit

Because they are using end to end encryption… Of course they will have the metadata showing that something was sent. They won’t know what though. How could they ever run a reliable service if they could not make sure data can reliably transport over their network reliably? They simply don’t have the keys to read the data. It’s like if you and I had a very strong, insanely strong, code. I could use my phone to encode and encrypt. I could send that to you even over TV. Won’t be useful to anybody but you with the key. People will still know a transmission was made though. But that’s the same with everything be it SMS, WhatsApp, or even Snap.

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scionanimate@reddit

I can have a look around for sure.

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Jimmy90081@reddit

Yes please, I’d like to know. I do know they use modern auth standards. It even WhatsApp can see your content. Now, if your phone is compromised… sure. But that’s more a you issue than a WhatsApp issue.

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Precipiceofasneeze@reddit

Who are you that your assurance carries any weight?

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scionanimate@reddit

This person asked for opinions. I am no one.

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IpromithiusI@reddit

How can you give your assurances if you've no idea what you are on about?

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scionanimate@reddit

Didn't say I had no idea what I was on about 😅 it's just a post on the Internet, you need to chill 🤣

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scionanimate@reddit

Also WhatsApp is linked to Facebook and Instagram. Basically even if you haven't got a Facebook or Instagram you do if you have a WhatsApp account.

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Jimmy90081@reddit

This is probably true just so you are aware user in their system. It’s still true that end to end encryption is used for data. PKS/PKI/TLS/HTTPS… the actual content is secure. If your device is compromised you are in trouble. But the data it’s self in transit even through WhatsApp servers is not readable other than you and the recipient.

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RainbowPenguin1000@reddit

The only people I know who don’t use it are in their 70’s

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TheOriginalMythrelle@reddit

I'm nearly in my 70s & have used it for years

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SingerFirm1090@reddit

I know two people in the 70s that do use it.

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seven-cents@reddit

According to stats posted on Google, 79% of people between the ages of 16 and 64 use WhatsApp.

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r2dtsuga@reddit

Who doesn't use whatsapp?

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Wonderful_Welder_796@reddit

A lot of people here use messenger. WhatsApp is not as universal as in other countries I think.

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starsandbribes@reddit

Tried moving my group chats onto Signal but its hard to convince people, to get off Zuckerberg’s platform, but yeah they’re all on Whatsapp and its just too popular. My favourite for 1-1 messaging is iMessage. It seems like it embeds links, videos, pictures into its interface better, it just has a clean smooth look. Facebook Messenger was always the worst. Just so cluttered and such a lazily built app.

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ChefPaula81@reddit

OP lots of us in the UK use whatsapp Can’t speak for the young uns tho, they probably have something newer, better, and cooler

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runew0lf@reddit

they only communicate in short videos called tikky tokkys!

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Timely_Egg_6827@reddit

Depends a lot on demographic. Tends to be business use for me mainly.

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seklas1@reddit

I have it and I use it once a month, to book a time-slot for a haircut. Or every once in awhile read what neighbours are chatting about. But it’s always muted, so people don’t bother me with random stuff. If somebody needs me for anything, they reach me on other platforms.

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SingerFirm1090@reddit

Oddly, given the security inherent in WharsApp, it's strange paranoid Americans seem to shun it.

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Neefew@reddit

Every single person that I know their choice for primary messaging option uses Whatsapp

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Unusefulness01@reddit

Same - but I dont know many people under the age of 25

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waffleskun@reddit

Anecdotally, the people I know who don’t use it tend to be gen z. They using iMessage/instagram. Nearly everyone my age or older uses WhatsApp

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MrNippyNippy@reddit

I use it to speak to android users - I think Apple are bringing in cross platform messaging soon, in fact I have bought it was coming out with ios18 but it’s not been offered to me yet. Will get rid asap

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ImJustARunawaay@reddit

Pretty much all my comms are over WhatsApp - I thought it was the default for most people now

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darthvader666uk@reddit

WhatsAPP ids the main communication for me. Everyone, regardless if they have andriod or apple, use it.

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Happylittlecultist@reddit

Just started using it really. Only use it for group chat. 1 group for an event I'm organising with some people. 1 for college. Just send text messages otherwise.

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RH_300@reddit

Every single person I know has it, i think. Maybe except the old elderly uncle.

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PM-me-your-cuppa-tea@reddit

My now boyfriend started out by texting me when we first started dating. I had to explain I was never going to reply as I don't get text notifications because 99% of my texts are just OTP and I've not texted anyone for a good 5 years.

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World_wanderer12@reddit

Most people I know use it but I think younger people don't use it as their main messaging service. Snapchat seems more popular for younger people

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AllTheMeats7@reddit

I'd wager 80% of people do, and that's only that low because you'll get a load of stubborn old fuckers who will refuse because it's not a relic yet.

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ThreeRandomWords3@reddit

It's the only messaging tool I have used in 10 years

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