Messaging app WhatsApp has asked its some two billion users to accept new terms that will allow it to share more information with its parent company, Facebook. AFP
Messaging app WhatsApp has asked its some two billion users to accept new terms that will allow it to share more information with its parent company, Facebook. AFP
Messaging app WhatsApp has asked its some two billion users to accept new terms that will allow it to share more information with its parent company, Facebook. AFP
Messaging app WhatsApp has asked its some two billion users to accept new terms that will allow it to share more information with its parent company, Facebook. AFP

The best WhatsApp alternatives: Signal, Telegram and other messenger apps to try


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The founders of WhatsApp never meant for it to be this way.

When Brian Acton and Jan Koum launched the messaging app 11 years ago, Acton’s motto was: “No ads, no games, no gimmicks." He wanted their aims to be transparent and the needs of users to be put first. Koum, who grew up in the Eastern Bloc in the 1980s, had a very personal commitment to making his app private and secure.

Today, however, Acton and Koum are long gone, and WhatsApp is engulfed in another row over privacy. Changes to the app's terms of service, which state that information gathered by WhatsApp will be shared with Facebook, have caused consternation and confusion. The truth about which data stays private and which doesn't is either buried in pages of legalese, or being revealed in short emailed statements to enquiring journalists. People don't know where they stand, and many are bailing out.

It was evident when Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014 that it would make for an uneasy partnership. Shortly after the purchase, WhatsApp rolled out advanced end-to-end encryption, ensuring that only you and the recipient could see messages, and they’d be invisible to the companies themselves.

This would, on the face of it, be an anathema to Facebook, whose business model is predicated upon using its knowledge of your habits to serve you things you want to see (at least in theory).

But today, WhatsApp messages are still secure; end-to-end encryption still exists and your communications can’t be read by a third party. It does, however, reserve the right to collect other information, such as when and how you use the service, your location, contacts, transaction and payment data. And that’s the information which is making its way back to Facebook.

"WhatsApp is great for protecting the privacy of your message content," said cryptographer Matthew Green in interview with technology magazine Wired. "But it feels like the privacy of everything else you do is up for grabs."

In truth, WhatsApp has been sharing this information with Facebook for years unless you explicitly opted out. These new terms of service just shine a spotlight on it.

WhatsApp has now clarified that the opt-out will stay in place for those who chose it and nothing fundamental will change for anyone else, either. The new terms of service, they say, merely allow businesses you chat to on WhatsApp to use Facebook infrastructure to store those conversations, rather than have to store them themselves. What this means in practice isn’t yet clear; what is evident is that the privacy-conscious are actively exploring other options.

Here are five of them.

Signal

epa08925442 (FILE) - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (R) gives a statement at the construction site of the Tesla Giga Factory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, 03 September 2020 (Reissued 07 January 2021). According to reports on 07 January 2021, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk became the world richest person with a net worth of more than 185 billion US dollars, surpassing Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, who is currently worth 184 billion US dollars. EPA/ALEXANDER BECHER *** Local Caption *** 56315718
epa08925442 (FILE) - Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk (R) gives a statement at the construction site of the Tesla Giga Factory in Gruenheide near Berlin, Germany, 03 September 2020 (Reissued 07 January 2021). According to reports on 07 January 2021, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk became the world richest person with a net worth of more than 185 billion US dollars, surpassing Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, who is currently worth 184 billion US dollars. EPA/ALEXANDER BECHER *** Local Caption *** 56315718

"Use Signal," tweeted entrepreneur Elon Musk on Thursday as WhatsApp's new terms of service were unveiled. This exhortation caused a surge of people to join the platform and temporarily caused its sign-up process to become overloaded.

Signal is an obvious alternative: it’s open source, funded by grants and donations, run by a foundation rather than a tech giant, and has long been used and admired by privacy activists. All your messages (and even stickers!) are end-to-end encrypted, and the only information the company has about you is your phone number. It can’t share any data with anyone, because it has nothing to share.

Telegram

With a centre of operations based in Dubai, Telegram already has somewhere approaching half a billion users, attracted by its visual similarity to WhatsApp, the ability to transfer large files, and its “Secret Chat” mode, which uses its own high-grade encryption system.

However, outside Secret Chat, there is no end-to-end encryption, and the app “may” (according to its terms of service) collect similar metadata to the kind collected by WhatsApp.

Just before Christmas, founder Pavel Durov indicated that he is planning to start monetising the app. What shape this takes, and whether it will involve a form of advertising, isn’t yet known.

Threema

As the saying goes, “if a service is free, then you are the product”. Threema gets around the tricky problem of monetisation by charging for its app.

Popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland for many years, it features the usual end-to-end encryption, but also allows you to create an account without providing an email address or phone number, making your usage of the service completely anonymous.

However, its user base outside Europe is relatively small, so you'll have to persuade friends to sign up for it to be useful.

Element

Formerly called Riot, and before that Vector, Element’s interface may not be as slick and user-friendly as those of its competitors, but it makes use of the Matrix protocol, which boasts of being “open source, decentralised and secure".

What that means, in practice, is that all messages can be sent using end-to-end encryption but also, thanks to “bridges” provided by the Matrix community, you can send messages to users of other services, eg iMessage, Facebook Messenger, Skype and WhatsApp itself.

Wickr Me

One of two messenger apps authorised for use by the US military (the other being Signal), Wickr Me is the younger brother of Wickr, an app directed at security-conscious businesses.

Again, you don’t need a phone number or email address to sign up, messages are end-to-end encrypted, and all content is ephemeral, ie sent messages and attachments self-destruct after a set period of time, whether received or not.

This could be problematic if the recipient doesn’t read the message before it disappears, but it is reassuringly private.

While you're here
While you're here

White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogenChromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxideUltramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica contentOphiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on landOlivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour

How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE

When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.

The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Equinox

Price, base / as tested: Dh76,900 / Dh110,900

Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder

Gearbox: Nine-speed automatic

Power: 252hp @ 5,500rpm

Torque: Torque: 352Nm @ 2,500rpm

Fuel economy, combined: 8.5L / 100km

A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
  • 2018: Formal work begins
  • November 2021: First 17 volumes launched 
  • November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
  • October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
  • November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
In numbers: China in Dubai

The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000

Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000

Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000

Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent

Turkish Ladies

Various artists, Sony Music Turkey 

The%20specs
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Torbal Rayeh Wa Jayeh
Starring: Ali El Ghoureir, Khalil El Roumeithy, Mostafa Abo Seria
Stars: 3

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

Like a Fading Shadow

Antonio Muñoz Molina

Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez

Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)

The specs

Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six

Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm

Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto

Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km

Price: From Dh796,600

On sale: now

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Jetour T1 specs

Engine: 2-litre turbocharged

Power: 254hp

Torque: 390Nm

Price: From Dh126,000

Available: Now

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Dark Souls: Remastered
Developer: From Software (remaster by QLOC)
Publisher: Namco Bandai
Price: Dh199

AGL AWARDS

Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)

Apple%20Mac%20through%20the%20years
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The President's Cake

Director: Hasan Hadi

Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem 

Rating: 4/5

Spider-Man: No Way Home

Director: Jon Watts

Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon 

Rating:*****

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs

Engine: 3.8-litre, twin-turbo V8

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 582bhp

Torque: 730Nm

Price: Dh649,000

On sale: now  

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Fifa%20World%20Cup%20Qatar%202022%20
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Starring: Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Tina Fey

Directed by: Pete Doctor

Rating: 4 stars

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How to wear a kandura

Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
  • Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
  • Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work 
  • Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester

Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
  • Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying