Tips on using WhatsApp?

For various reasons*, I’ve refused to install or use Whats App and been using Skype instead but Skype is, let’s face it, shite.

So is What’s App “better” than Skype? What are the downsides? Is Meta gonna start listening to my conversations and swamping me with ads for shite that Mrs Vlad and I discuss?

Does it let me divert incoming phone calls to my mobile to connect via What’s App instead (using data rather than minutes)? This is mostly about roaming for when me and Mrs V are in different countries…

*Mostly cos I’m an old curmudgeon

Top tip no 1 – you can mute groups.

Thank me later….

Signal is a similar/better option if you do not fancy Meta knowing the metadata of your conversations.

BUTT… A lot of people have WhatsApp and use it without issue.

Calls are whatsapp to WhatsApp. There is no diverting for free, you both need to have the app

You have to register via a phone number

One registered other options are available, like windows and web. You scan a qr code from the authorised phone to authorise other devices

I don’t remember seeing adverts

Its just a message app that does voice and video calls too. Or think of it as Skype that uses your phone number instead of email address.

Top tip no 1 – you can mute groups.

And yet, despite being less of a ‘notification’ than a direct unmuted message, my phone still buzzes when muted group messages are posted. Much smaller buzz yes, but still evident. Never worked out yet how to stop it. (I keep my phone on silent/vibrate only…its a habit from early days of mobile use I’ve never changed)

Could always use Telegram

Do you know anyone else on it that you want to talk with?

Top tip no 1 – you can mute groups.

I’m a member of a social group where the group name can be changed by anyone in the group and often is, several times a day.  Imagine the uncomfortable silence when, with my partner sat next to me, Android Auto splashed a message notification across the dashboard from Perverts R’ Us.

Tip #2 remember to turn the volume down before you open videos when family are around…

Tip 3, by default it saves every pic sent to your phone but you can easily turn this off. Do this immediately on installing the app.

I’m just impressed you’ve lasted this long without it. My entire social and family life, along with parts of my work like are all done through it.

We really need a couple of politicians to chime in about its benefits for running the country. Or at least a Northerly annex.

Maybe postal workers too ?

Tip 4, WhatsApp desktop is very useful if you’re a desk jockey.

If you just want to speak to one person then I am not sure it really matters what you use.

Whatsapp will spy on you to some degree and try to flog your soul to facebook but if you dont use that on your phone and arent linked with many people then its capability to bugger you is limited. Especially if you set all the permissions to only when using the app.

Main problem is once you register then all your contacts who are on it will see you and will start spamming you but fairly certain that can be disabled.

I am a reluctant whatsapp user only use it because my son does. As above mute button is your friend. There are lots of people who do use it .  I use Messenger, Signal and Telegram  all more than Whatsapp. Very rarely phone people on the old fashioned actual mobile number thing

WhatsApp is a very clean, usable app. Works extremely well for groups. Entirely dependent on how many of your contacts also use it. It’s ad free and doesn’t really feel like an app, just part of phone. I like it and a quite dependent on it.

It’s ubiquitous because it’s cross platform,  simple to use and has a critical mass of users.

I only know one or two who refuse to use it and quite simply they don’t get included in the conversation.

Main problem is once you register then all your contacts who are on it will see you and will start spamming you but fairly certain that can be disabled.

That’s good to know!

I only know one or two who refuse to use it and quite simply they don’t get included in the conversation.

You say that like it’s a problem! There are already too many ways for unwanted contact to me to be initiated, what with work emails and Teams messages, personal emails (I have several for different registration purposes), plus personal SMS – then there’s various websites which can be used to contact me. Outside of work stuff, I can’t be arsed checking most of these regularly plus every new comms method seems like a potential vector for spam/phishing…

Anyway, if I do install it, it will only be for 1:1 conversations with Mrs V and she will be under strict instruction not to involve me with any of her (extensive) family What’s App groups…

Have you tried being less popular?

I only know one or two who refuse to use it and quite simply they don’t get included in the conversation.

They are probably all the happier, less harassed and mithered because of it.  I’m sure ‘the conversation’ still happens between them and their real friends.  I do use it and at times it’s useful, but if you aren’t strict with which groups you join it can turn into a monster.

Have you tried being less popular?

Lol. Even my dog ignores me most days!

Could always use Telegram

Particularly if you’re after drugs or crypto 😉

 they don’t get included in the conversation.

I use WhatsApp all the time (it’s great for dating), but I’m only in two groups (out of choice) – my old school pals and a small parent group for my lad to play out at the local park.

I genuinely don’t want to be in loads of different riding group chats. Who’s got the bandwidth for that? I just drop someone a line if I want to ride with them.

Whatsapp I find being one of those apps I couldn’t live without – for groups of mates or 1-2-1 messaging and exchanging pics and stuff, its brilliant. Only tip I’d give is look at the auto save feature for pics and gifs (video). If you’re in a load of chats and there are constantly gifs and pics being sent around, they all get saved on your device so I go through them now and then and delete all the guff I don’t need (can’t turn the feature off completely as I get sent a load of stuff from family etc that I want to keep).

Imagine the uncomfortable silence when, with my partner sat next to me, Android Auto splashed a message notification across the dashboard from Perverts R’ Us.

One of my football related groups got changed to “Frank Lampards Bald Patch” after last nights humilation of the fat fraud by the big eared one.

Is your What’s App account forever linked to your specific mobile phone number?

Eg my mobile is provided by work and I don’t have a personal phone. If I set What’s App up using my works number and then sometime later, I give up the works phone (eg change jobs), do I lose access to that What’s App account?

Or does it have to be ported to another mobile phone number before I can continue using it?

Dunno mate sorry, maybe ask Boris Johnson.

Let me Google that for you 😉

https://faq.whatsapp.com/498754122134583/?cms_platform=android

Main problem is once you register then all your contacts who are on it will see you and will start spamming you but fairly certain that can be disabled.

I don’t get this at all. It is certainly not my experience. I find WhatApp is just a better version of my phone SMS function. Its not social media and I only get messages that I am expecting as part of an ongoing conversation.

People still use Telegram?

skype 🤣 I thought that had been wholly consumed by Teams. I guess not.

WhatsApp makes for an OK cross platform counterpart to iMessage. And ads haven’t arrived on it yet. I expect Z will get around to breaking it in some fiendish way in due course.

Looks like you can change your number with limited fuss https://faq.whatsapp.com/1166321223998129 like @jeffl googled

There are already too many ways for unwanted contact to me to be initiated, what with work emails and Teams messages,

Aside from security controls, this is a big reason I have a personal phone as well as a phone provided by work. Keeps things separate.

*Mostly cos I’m an old curmudgeon

Wow, what a rare and unusual personality type to find on STW.

I’ve just re-read the OP post and I wonder now if he is more interested in voice/videos calls over WhatsApp rather than messaging. If this the case then yep, it works fine. However, its not as good at FaceTime so if you need to video call your missus on a regular basis just cross over the grown up world and get iPhones.

Less critical now that most phones/networks support wifi calling, and phones have built in noise canceling, but 5 years ago that was a game changer actually being able to have coherent conversations with people on mobile phones 😂

Is your What’s App account forever linked to your specific mobile phone number?

Eg my mobile is provided by work and I don’t have a personal phone. If I set What’s App up using my works number and then sometime later, I give up the works phone (eg change jobs), do I lose access to that What’s App account?

Or does it have to be ported to another mobile phone number before I can continue using it?

Basically yes, you can transfer your watsapp account to a new phone an/or number, but it always need to be registered to a number.

It’s ubiquitous because it’s cross platform,  simple to use and has a critical mass of users.

This is weirdly geographical.

North America for example it just never took off there apparently.  I presume there’s a reason behind it, maybe they always had free texts in their contracts so it was never a need.  But friends and colleagues over there react like you’re a conspiracy nut with Reddit and Telegram accounts and probably having an affair if you have watsapp.

One tip is to remember to set up backups – when enabled it does it automatically and can send it to your Google Drive.  If you lose, or change phone you can restore the backup to the new device without losing old messages.  I guess this would get around the question of being tied to a mobile number too.

Although I turned off WA backups because I want to conserve cloud storage space and my messages are ephemeral – I don’t care what I WA’d someone last month or last year.

One tip is to remember to set up backups – when enabled it does it automatically and can send it to your Google Drive.  If you lose, or change phone you can restore the backup to the new device without losing old messages.  I guess this would get around the question of being tied to a mobile number too.

unless you are a conservative MP…

I hate the fact that WA is now owned by Meta but it just works well and I now use it quite a lot for communicating with clients as they’re all on it.

if I do install it, it will only be for 1:1 conversations with Mrs V

Then there’s no point over SMS, unless you plan on being out of mobile signal or want to use it on a device other than a phone (I primarily use it on a Windows desktop, I avoid poking at phone keyboards whenever there’s a better option available).

I turned off WA backups because I want to conserve cloud storage space and my messages are ephemeral – I don’t care what I WA’d someone last month or last year.

I’m of much the same mind.  Maybe if I used it for business purposes (why?) but the vanishingly little stuff in there that I might want to refer back to I’d copy out into OneNote.

It has a live location function where you can allow another user to view where you are. I use it for my wife when I go biking. Handy for keeping track of your kids/teenagers too

Yeah the live location is handy. Useful when trying to meet up with drunk people in foreign countries who are unable to give directions 😁

North America for example it just never took off there apparently. I presume there’s a reason behind it, maybe they always had free texts in their contracts so it was never a need.

Bingo! Phone contracts are fundamentally different in North America (where Im living at the moment) for reasons I’m not sure of. For instance, theres no difference between a mobile phone number or landline number format so you never know which type of phone you’re calling so there’s no rate difference between them.

However, the phone plans are massively more expensive than in the UK by the time you add in all the extras UK contracts include as standard. For instance, if I want to use my phone out of country, it costs $15 PER DAY on top everything else (and that doesn’t get me any extra calls mins/texts/data)

Fortunately, eSims get around a lot of this extra cost (so Ill use eSiMS when out of country) but most eSims don’t come with calls/SMS so Cougars solution doesn’t work, and if What’s App is just using data, it may be a solution.

So this is a very specific use case I’m talking about which is not obvious to Europeans!