Is it (still) worth trying to switch my family and friends from WhatsApp to Signal? (Read all of it, please.) - eviltoast

This may sound a bit dumb, but eh.

So when that WhatsApp privacy policy change thing happened in early 2021, I tried switching from WhatsApp to Signal and Telegram. Telegram kinda stuck with me since i still get news from there, but Signal… not really because I didn’t care about privacy back then. Now, I want to make the switch from WhatsApp to Signal, and I have a few plans on how to do that. But, is it worth it, since most people in Türkiye use Whatsapp and even if I switch my family and friends over to Signal, they’ll still use WhatsApp since most people are on there.

So, yeah. Should i try, or is it not worth doing? Let me know, also, thanks in advance!

(Note: Most of my family and friends don’t really care about privacy.)

(Note 2: This was also posted in r/signal and r/privacy subreddits.)

  • Tatar_Nobility@lemmy.ml
    12·
    1 year ago

    I was in a similar spot and gave up before starting. This is due to several reasons: 1) My circle of relatives and friends, like yours, neglect their privacy and would not engage with me in a serious conversation regarding it; 2) educational institutions, businesses, organisations and even governmental bodies may rely on WhatsApp for communications; and 3) the two big telecom monopolies offer enticing mobile data deals for using WhatsApp.

    While I am not saying you should give up, you should go for modest goals (e.g. converting your close family to signal when chatting together) and eliminate optimistic expectations so you don’t get crushed.

      • Em Adespoton@lemmy.ca
        2·
        1 year ago

        The few people I had using it won’t use it anymore since Signal dropped sms. Best I have been able to do now is talk to people with iMessage.

        Well that’s odd, as iOS Signal never supported SMS, and Android phones don’t support iMessage, only SMS.