Why I hate one of the most loved messaging platforms, and why I’m still on it.

Article updated 1/23/2020 to remove lack of dark mode as a critique.

Messages are stored offline.

1. Only one device can be used per account

2. Switching devices is a pain

3. IOS to Android is basically impossible

4. When your phone is dead cant message even with the browser/desktop based app since its linked to phone

5. WhatsApp web sucks so hard with constant disconnects, especially when hotspotting your phone to your laptop.

6. Your phone has to be connected to use the browser/desktop based app which impacts, your phone’s battery life. More info.

No SD card support (Android)

On Android, sd card support is pretty poor, but content-heavy apps like Spotify, Netflix, etc usually allow you to use sd card as the offline storage. Whatsapp does not. If you’re like me you get a lot of media via WhatsApp which chews up storage.

Groups

1. The size of groups is limited so hobby groups are a no go.

2. Groups don’t have any moderation options like limiting messages sent per amount of time

3. You can be auto-added to a group, and everyone in the group gets your number.

It ruins image and video quality

WhatsApp down-scales the resolution and quality of media you send and there’s no way to turn that off. Telegram and other services give you the option to share the full-res file.

Last seen

How many times has someone unwanted tried to spy on you by constantly checking your ‘last seen’ on WhatsApp? It is a rhetorical question.

I know that you can disable the ‘last seen’ feature. That said, I also know that it disables the ‘last seen’ for everyone. Once again, Telegram one-ups WhatsApp in this regard. You can customize the ‘last seen’ setting for individual Telegram users.

Facebook.

WhatsApp is owned by Facebook and I don’t have to say more than that to tell you about privacy.

Yet

I’m still stuck on WhatsApp since that is what is used in my social circles.(Doesn’t mean I can’t hate it) 🙂