Some reasons are more solid and weighty, and others are pure personal whim. Many iPhone users are clear that they will use iMessage whenever they can, and these are their arguments.
Apple phones come with its ecosystem’s own messaging application, iMessage, which many iPhone users prefer to use over WhatsApp. It doesn’t matter that the second is more international and widely used due to its great compatibility between different devices. Some users try to use Apple’s native messaging app as much as possible. But why?
After the user @ulricmusset was asked about this issue on X this Thursday, his post has received hundreds of responses about the reasons why iPhone customers reject WhatsApp like a garlic vampire. Most refer to the US market, where iPhones dominate over Androids as a mobile phone option.
These are some of the arguments that users have outlined:
«Addiction to blue bubbles»
It seems like an unimportant detail but in reality it is not. iMessage users can send messages to any phone number. However, the app makes a distinction between people who also have iPhones and those who don’t. It does this by changing the background color of sent messages, so that the color is blue when you are contacting another person who also has an iPhone, and green when you are talking, for example, to someone who uses Android.
This feature has been quite controversial for years, as it exerts a somewhat unpleasant distinction. This is because having an Android can be seen as a sign of poor economic capacity, since many people assume that if someone does not have an iPhone it is because they do not have the money to afford it (something absurd, obviously).
In this context, one user cites “blue bubble addiction” as a purely aesthetic and aspirational reason for using iMessage. In other words, by ‘posturing’.
Presence of scammers on WhatsApp
It is true that many WhatsApp users will have suffered the famous attempt of a scammer to deceive them. Thousands of scammers around the world use leaked phone numbers on the Internet to try to contact someone in a thousand different ways. They can pretend to be someone who has the wrong number but needs help with something or be a professional looking for workers for a lucrative project.
beau – ai builder
@beaudjango
@ulricmusset – addiction to blue bubbles
– don’t need another app
– better for business (phone number)
– whatsapp is full of scammers, most scammers are from foreign countries using, wait for it, whatsapp
– harder to make groups because others don’t have whatsapp
– depending on the industry… https://t.co/CIsnaHwwxlApril 12, 2024 • 9:35 p.m.
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Additionally, on WhatsApp they can add you to groups without your consent. This is also used by cybercriminals and scammers of all kinds, who, for example, create supposed cryptocurrency investment groups with which to cajole people into investing in a fraudulent platform.
WhatsApp is ugly
Yes, it seems like a pretty trivial reason. But, again, we are talking about iPhone users, who prioritize the aesthetics and beauty of their device, sometimes above all else. User @djkgamc says: “WhatsApp is ugly and difficult to use. [Nos obligan] to use it for [hablar con] international. She never wanted to do it. “Telegram is a version of WhatsApp with a better design that I would use for internationals if it had traction,” he says.
out of laziness
Several users agree that why use another messaging application other than the native one if it already comes pre-installed. That is, simply by not wanting to install and configure this other application, they are happy to remain calm within the peaceful Apple ecosystem.
iPhone dominance in the United States
The initiator of the debate in However, he highlights that a similar situation occurs in the United Kingdom, in which iPhones are more used than other mobile brands, and yet WhatsApp does have much more use in this country than in the United States.
ben — oss/acc
@hotkartoffel1
@ulricmusset iphone dominance in the us
April 12, 2024 • 9:35 p.m.
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«In the United Kingdom, 50% of people have an iPhone and everyone uses WhatsApp. That’s what seems strange to me,” she says. This may also be because British people tend to talk to more people from other countries than Americans, who communicate more with people from the same country. This may make sense given the proximity of the United Kingdom to the rest of the countries in Europe.
iMessage is simpler
To the surprise of others, several users claim that WhatsApp is much more complicated to use than iMessage. @djkgamc assures that the process of adding contacts “does not make any sense.” User @_yogaflame isn’t quite as exaggerated, but notes that “the app could definitely use a UI update. “I use it often (because of where I currently live) and I fear it.”
However, others do point out the wide variety of functions that Meta has introduced in WhatsApp as a problem. All of them, unnecessary and overwhelming for some. «WhatsApp is getting much worse with new things. They want channels, stories, payments, OTP and family members all in one app,” says another user.
I hate Facebook
It is also true that, since Meta (then still called Facebook) bought WhatsApp, the application has been part of Mark Zuckerberg’s technological empire. There are many people who, for various reasons, do not feel comfortable using apps owned by Meta, and prefer to counteract the power of this great company by using another service (although Apple is also another of the largest technology companies).
Not only may you not like Meta for its privacy policies that have proven to be questionable over the years, but you may also dislike Zuckerberg on a personal level.
