WhatsApp now lets you block people from adding you to groups
WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned instant messaging service will now give users the option to control who adds them to groups.
Last week Facebook indicated it is moving into an ecosystem that may look like China’s WeChat
If you want a good picture of what Facebook seems to be pivoting itself to become, start using that great everything app WeChat. South Africans tend to think of it as just a messaging app, an alternative to WhatsApp.
WhatsApp is testing an image search tool to fight fake news
The messaging service, WhatsApp, is working on a feature that’ll allow users to do reverse-image searches. This will hopefully help combat fake news -- something WhatsApp has struggled with in the recent past.
Becoming more like WhatsApp won’t solve Facebook’s woes – here’s why
Zuckerberg aims to make private messages private and ephemeral – meaning Facebook can’t read our messages, and the data doesn’t stick around on the company’s servers for longer than necessary. His vision involves merging Facebook and the company’s other digital platforms – Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger – into a super app, similar to China’s WeChat.
Enable dark mode in Facebook Messenger now by sending an emoji
Dark mode is finally rolling out on Facebook Messenger, and whether or not you’re a dark-mode enthusiast, you’re gonna want to enable it here.
You can now unlock WhatsApp with your face or your finger
Instagram and Messenger are expected to inherit the end-to-end encryption their stablemate WhatsApp enjoys, but in the meantime if you're using WhatsApp and an iDevice you can enjoy another layer of security: biometric authentication. Peeping significant others will soon need to find other ways to access bae’s messages.
By combining its various messaging services, Facebook is treading on dangerous ground with privacy and anticompetitive monopoly
Facebook intends to combine is messaging apps – WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram – into a single backend so people can message across the various platforms. While Facebook clearly believes it will make it easier for its users to communicate, the rest of the rational world is alarmed at its unprecedented monopoly of communication getting worse, and potentially compromising our data privacy even mo...[Read More]
Zuckerberg plans to integrate Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp chat
Just imagine a single app where you could go for all your messaging needs. Okay, it doesn’t sound so much convenient than it does unnecessary — but it may be coming. Facebook plans to integrate WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram messages, according to a new report. Doing so will allow users to send messages between the three networks, even if they’re not on all of them. A report in t...[Read More]
Telegram and Signal are the main alternatives to WhatsApp because they promise greater security
In the last few years while WhatsApp was being sued by privacy watchdogs in Europe for data infringements, Telegram was sued in Russia for refusing to compromise on its users’ privacy. Telegram is a messaging app that prides itself on its encryption and privacy. It was created in 2013 Pavel Durov – often called Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg – specifically to prevent his own government from eavesd...[Read More]
WhatsApp limits forwarding to five instances to curb fake news
That image of your littlest nephew sitting on the couch all chocolate-covered, with a half-eaten banana and a manic grin on his face? WhatsApp will only let you forward that image a maximum of five times, thanks to silly people who believe everything that they read. The messaging app has announced that it will be limiting available forwards from 20 groups or people down to just five. The reasoning...[Read More]
Facebook sued by European regulators for breaching privacy, and it’s only getting worse
I’m not a big believer in New Year’s Resolutions. After years of trying to fulfil these improbable, sometimes impossible, behavioural change tasks, I – like everyone – gave up on this annual tradition. But this year I have a goal, a resolution, if you will. I want to move way from WhatsApp – and to use Telegram. As one of the largest messaging networks in the world – with over 1.5bn us...[Read More]
WhatsApp wants researchers to tackle its fake news problem – here’s an idea
Last February, Cadbury Chocolate fell victim to a hoax. The image below went viral in an Indonesian WhatsApp group called “Viral Media Johor”, and later in a Nigerian group. But the problem that this story and others like it pose is real. Rumours, hoaxes and misinformation find fertile breeding ground on social media. But as Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms increasingly c...[Read More]