In many ways, Signal resembles WhatsApp and is gaining popularity in the Netherlands. For this reason, Signal is better and nobody steps over it.
Why Signal is better than WhatsApp
Signal has recently gained a lot of popularity in the Netherlands and according to the blog Signalapp.nl Belgium is now following this trend. The app has been in the Netherlands very high in the most downloaded social network apps in the App Store for a few weeks and there are good reasons for that. Signal supports the use of multiple devices. There is an iPad version that you can link to your phone and you can also use Signal on your Mac. WhatsApp works in addition to your iPhone via the internet and via a desktop app, but there is no iPad version.
Although Signal and WhatsApp are largely very similar, there are also a number of differences that are not unimportant. For example, WhatsApp metadata for advertisements collects and Signal does nothing at all with your data. Signal is fully open source, making the software transparent and controllable. This is in contrast to WhatsApp, where the software is not transparent at all and therefore nobody realizes it when suspicious adjustments are made.
Signal of paramount imports for privacy
The Signal Foundation is a non-profit organization non-profit, which means that your data is not a source of income. WhatsApp, on the other hand, is part of Meta, which also manages Facebook. That is a commercial company that is aimed at profit. WhatsApp therefore collects data and places targeted advertisements.
In Signal you can set that others can only find you through your username, in WhatsApp your telephone number is always visible. Moreover, the risk that you will be hacked WhatsApp is real, with all the consequences that that entails. Signal accounts can also be hacked, but are safer thanks to extra protective layers. In addition, there are many more scammers active on WhatsApp, which means that you are already more at risk on WhatsApp than on Signal.
Signal is recommended by many security experts and privacy organizations, including Edward Snowden, European Digital Rights and the European Commission. The app is therefore used by the European Unionbut also by organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, New York Times, CNN and Guardian.
Why nobody really switches
The fact that Signal has been downloaded in the Netherlands for quite some time now suggests that more people will use the app. Only this is disappointing in practice. Many people are interested in switching from WhatsApp to Signal. They download the app and install it. And they may also use the app with a few like -minded people.
But the big problem remains that the majority of the Dutch continues to use WhatsApp. Even if you use Signal, removing WhatsApp completely is often not an option for that reason. The result is that you use two apps with the same functionality side by side. That is not ideal and in many cases the use of Signal becomes less over time. Certainly as long as all your contacts can also be found on WhatsApp.
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