WhatsApp suffered a major outage today preventing users from sending texts on personal and group chats. Outage detection website DownDetector saw millions of reports since the downtime, with disgruntled users also taking to social platforms like Twitter to complain. Seeing the increase in the frequency of such outages lately, users might want to consider switching to other platforms. If WhatsApp is down, here are five alternatives apps you can try.
Telegram
When one thinks of WhatsApp alternatives, the first name to pop up in mind is usually Telegram. The chat app is packed with features, making it especially useful for power users. Aside from the slew of customization options that let you theme the app to your heart’s content, Telegram lets you create super groups with up to 100,000 people, public channels, and send out self-destructing messages that disappear after a set duration. Security is also a non-issue since Telegram uses triple-layer encryption.
Facebook Messenger
Facebook’s own dedicated chat app recently started allowing users without Facebook accounts to use it as well, making it an attractive alternative to WhatsApp when it’s down. The app is a full-fledged chat service, meaning it comes with everything you’d expect from one — messaging, audio calls, and video calls. Enhancing the communication experience are fun features like AR effects, message effects, and selfie stickers.
Signal
Signal is a cross-platform centralized encrypted instant messaging service developed by a non-profit organization. It’s touted by many as being the most secure messaging app. The company behind it created the encryption protocol that other apps like WhatsApp and Skype use, which speaks volumes about its focus on privacy.
Google Messages
It isn’t the most popular choice probably due to the fact that it’s usually full of spam SMSes at any given time, but once you look past that, Messages is now sophisticated enough to be used as a proper chat app. The introduction of RCS lets you send stickers and images, and you even get typing indicators and read receipts on it now.
iMessage
iMessage is an absolute no-brainer if you and your pals are hooked on to the Apple ecosystem. Since it’s a system app, it gets updated frequently with new features and supports seamless syncing with other Apple devices you may own.
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