If I HAD to use one, which one would be better? While Whatsapp is owned by Facebook, they have end to end encryption for the messages, while the metadata is not. However, on Telegram, nothing is end to end encrypted unless you use a secret chat which most regular people are most likely not going to use. I have a feeling Whatsapp would be better but I wanted to hear your thoughts.
I converted around 10 people to Signal as well. Basically since I deleted my WhatsApp account, either they would create their Signal accts, or we wouldn’t have an instant messaging channel. They still use mostly WhatsApp with others, but at least they run Signal alongside.
I wish Signal was more dependable and had better mainstream features so more people would switch and stick around. The fact the Desktop client doesn’t sync message history, the app sometimes not notifying people, and unreliable voice or video calls were concerns that I heard or experienced so far.
What do you mean by
Signal still has a “practical” feature disparity compared to Telegram and WhatsApp. Personally I don’t care about many of these newer features, but the mainstream public a lot of times does. Signal was the last one to implement stories and stickers for example, which might seem silly, but I know people who considered this lack as “cons” back then and that got in the way when convincing them to switch.
And for some features it does implement, one can make the argument they’re objectively worse than its counterparts. Half the times I tried audio or video calls the lag made it impossible to continue and we had to switch to Google Meet. Likewise, the security feature of the desktop app not retrieving chat histories means that every few months I end up losing it on my desktop or laptop if I log back in after some tie. I put up with that, but because I really like Signal as a privacy-respecting project.
As for a Telegram comparison, their support and features for groups is really unmatched.
I say these things as a donor to Signal, so I really wish this will change, but I have to admit the features arrive late and are still not quite there yet.