WhatsApp (2009)

WhatsApp won not through features, but by having everything in it. The messenger appeared in 2009 as a way to avoid paying for SMS, and ultimately became the phone book of the planet: in many countries — from Brazil to India — people arrange meetings with schools, plumbers, and doctors right here. It is now owned by Meta. Messaging and calls are secured with end-to-end encryption on the Signal protocol, which is a significant plus, but the metadata — who, to whom, when, and how often — is visible to the company, and this is the main complaint against the service. It is designed simply to the point of asceticism: contacts are pulled from the address book, there’s nothing to configure, groups, statuses, voice and video calls, and a web version all work. There are also long-standing limitations: the account is tied to a number, the history between Android and iPhone transfers with difficulty, and the desktop client depends on the phone. Alternatives include Telegram, Signal, Viber.

Program card in the MegaInet.art catalog — reference information. Files are not distributed.