Three alternative messaging apps to WhatsApp
WhatsApp is the go-to messaging app for most South Africans. The Facebook-owned service is undoubtedly the most popular messaging platform on the planet, second only to WeChat in terms of total daily users, but far surpassing it in geographical reach. Is it too big to fail? What would we do […]
WhatsApp now lets you start a group chat where you’re in control
Have you ever been in a WhatsApp group chat that is used for exactly the opposite of its initial purpose? Or one where the people involved just won’t… stop… talking… about things that are not relevant to the matter at hand. If you’re a parent with a kid in primary […]
How to download your personal data from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
The personal data debacle has been going strong since Facebook ‘accidentally’ decided a few users’ personal information wasn’t important enough to secure, and they kinda sold access to it to someone. This has prompted other social media platforms (a few of which are also owned by Facebook) to roll out […]
Facebook’s 1.2bn strong WhatsApp service likely to be the centre of the next big privacy debacle
There’s a profound irony that one of the people leading the #DeleteFacebook charge is Brian Acton, the co-founder of WhatsApp, which was bought by Facebook for $22bn. If you think the amount (of which Acton received $3bn in 2014) was eye-watering, last month’s tweet by Acton – “It is time. […]
WhatsApp has launched WhatsApp Business – Find out if you need it
Next time you have to chat to your insurance broker or hair salon via WhatsApp their profiles will most probably pop up as a ‘ WhatsApp Business Account’. Yup, they just made WhatsApp more professional. The instant messaging company has launched WhatsApp Business, a service aimed at verifying business accounts […]
Sent a WhatsApp by mistake? Now you can delete it
We’ve all done it. You get a WhatsApp message from someone, open the app, rapidly fire off a response… and then realise you’ve sent the wrong message to the wrong person or group. More often that not the result is a bemused recipient who at worst finds out the embarrassing […]
Share your real-time location with WhatsApp Live Location
The Facebook-owned instant messaging service WhatsApp has added a feature that allows users to share their location in real-time with individual or group chats. Called Live Location, the new feature includes end-to-end encryption and lets you decide how long the person or people you’re sharing your location with can view it. […]
End-to-end encryption isn’t enough security for ‘real people’
Government officials continue to seek technology companies’ help fighting terrorism and crime. But the most commonly proposed solution would severely limit regular people’s ability to communicate securely online. And it ignores the fact that governments have other ways to keep an electronic eye on targets of investigations. In June, government […]
Using WhatsApp? You’re now one of a billion
We live in an interesting time, and not (just) the (allegedly) ancient Chinese curse kind. You, the person reading this now, regularly perform actions that are being done by vast numbers of others, on a scale unprecedented in human history. And now you’re doing another one. Which is a fancy […]
25 secret WhatsApp tricks you (probably) didn’t know about
There are over a billion WhatsApp users worldwide right now. The bad news? Your mom has already found her new favourite way to spam you. The good news? You can easily avoid her on the down-low, and that’s just one of the messaging service’s many secret tips you probably don’t […]
How WhatsApp encryption works – and why there shouldn’t be a backdoor
A battle between national security and privacy is brewing. Governments and secret services are asking encrypted messaging services such as WhatsApp to allow them access to users’ data. Most recently, in the wake of the March attack at Westminster, Amber Rudd, the UK home secretary, said it was unacceptable that […]
Up next for WhatsApp — paid-for business features being tested
WhatsApp, the messaging service that everyone you know uses, was acquired for a very large sum of money (a mere $19 billion or so) by Facebook in 2014. It was about the same time that the company stopped charging an annual usage fee but it looks like the service is […]