WhatsApp, Signal App Or Telegram App: Which is Better?
A sudden notification of WhatsApp on 6th of January 2021, regarding the decision of updating its privacy policies raised a serious question on user’s privacy issue. Such an important issue regarding the privacy which is taken on a lighter note by WhatsApp is not at all appreciated by people.
There is rage all around regarding WhatsApp’s updated privacy policies. People are talking about switching to few other apps like Telegram and Signal instead of WhatsApp because those are relatively a little safer than WhatsApp in terms of sharing personal data of users. Notification which irked people and made them think about choosing other app than the WhatsApp reads as “WhatsApp is updating its terms and Privacy policy“
A sudden change like this in WhatsApp policies has attracted a lot of criticism coming from the users of WhatsApp itself. #WhatsappNewPolicy, #WhatsAppPolicies and #Signal were few hashtags which has been trending on Twitter for last days gave more fire to this issue.
Most of the people have been giving a serious thought over switching the app but at the same time they are also worried and concerned because there are not many alternatives of WhatsApp.
With more than 400 million users in India, WhatsApp is one of the most popular app, which is used by all the Indians of different age groups. But, by looking at the serious threat of the invasion of their privacy few of the people have switched to Signal.
In last few days number of downloads of Signal and Telegram has been increased and sole reason behind it seems to be WhatsApp’s decision of making changes in their policies which are turning to non-user friendly.
What is Signal App?
For last few days Signal was going viral on the internet. People like Elon Musk have also suggested to switch to Signal by tweeting “Use Signal”.
- Well, according to the official website of Signal, It is a cross-platform just like WhatsApp which offers encrypted messaging services and is developed by Signal Foundation and Signal Messenger LLC.
- It helps in sending files, text messages, voice notes, videos, images and documents.
- Just like WhatsApp, Signal also prefers to send group messages, video calls, voice calls and one-to-one messages.
What is Telegram App?
- When it comes to Telegram, it is Dubai based freeware and instant messaging platform which is used for sending instant messages and documents.
- It also provides video call and voice calls like facilities and was launched in 2013 for iOS version.
- This app currently has multiple users in India from different age groups.
- It is mostly used for sharing documents and getting text messages.
- This app’s servers are all around the world with Millions of real users.
When it comes to comparison between WhatsApp and Telegram and which app is better than other, then a report in Express.co.uk, stated “there is actually not much difference between WhatsApp and Telegram when it comes to the quality of the app. But users whose main concern is privacy are better off opting for Telegram.”
WhatsApp’s decision of sharing the user’s data with Facebook in order to grow business has given some red signals to users. Because Facebook is the kind of company which is already defamed for compromising with user’s privacy, leakage of user’s personal information and data protection like serious issues. First and last thing when it comes to switching to any other platform by quitting the previous one is user’s personal choice and comfort.
If they are fine with WhatsApp’s new policies of sharing the data with Facebook and third-party apps they must stay with WhatsApp only. But if they feel like this move by WhatsApp could be a kind of threat to their privacy they should go for other alternatives like Signal and Telegram.
We can analyze that both of these apps are way safer than WhatsApp as these do not force their users to agree with them in sharing their personal data with companies like Facebook.
A comparison between all the three apps (WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal) regarding data and information asked by them.
WhatsApp Collects
Device ID, advertising data, user Id, purchase ID, coarse location, e-mail address, phone Number, product information, personal data, payment information, product information, and customer support etc
Telegram Collects
Contacts information and user ID
Signal App Collects
Only Contact Number and that too is not linked with identity
After going through the quick comparing between all the three apps it can be clearly stated that Signal collects least data from users when it comes to invading the privacy of users. As it is crystal clear which app is more safer than the other in terms of data protection, a user can easily decide which one to choose and which one to quite.
If invasion of privacy to this extent is no serious problem for a user he/she can choose to stay with WhatsApp only But if a user is concerned about the privacy then he/she can prefer Telegram ( which only collects two information, like User ID and contacts information) And Signal ( which asks for contact number only!).
Choice is obviously personal and depends on the users only!
