A number of people are still very much in love with the popular instant messaging application WhatsApp. However, the app has come under the spotlight in recent months over how easy it is to spread fake news and hoaxes over it.
The company has responded to this issue by labeling Forwarded messages and limiting the number of times a user can forward a single message.
WhatsApp is among the most popular messaging apps in South Africa and Africa and plays a heavy role in our lives. The social messaging platform has a reported 1.5 billion users worldwide of which some 172 million comes from Africa.
Yet if you are interested in trying out alternatives to this popular app here are three options.
1.Viber
Viber has more than 900 million users worldwide. Just like WhatsApp, users can text, voice call and video call with just an internet connection. People can also share videos, pictures or audio notes. All calls and messages on the app are protected by end-to-end encryption and allows people to manually authenticate contacts to be sure they are talking to the right person.
2. Hike
Hike can be a great alternative to WhatsApp and has gained a reputation for its privacy. Hike allows users to hide their private chats using a password, which is impressive. Hence, users get to keep hike messenger accessible at their fingertips while also maintaining some degree of secrecy and privacy at the same time. Hike messenger also provides huge stickers in conversations. Moreover, it also keeps users engaged with live cricket scores, news, and other features.
3.Telegram
Telegram is a probably the best WhatsApp alternative that allows users to send and receive encrypted messages. In fact, the sole purpose of this app is messaging, which is fast and accurate. Telegram also has real-time synchronisation of messages across various platforms. So if you start typing some message on your smartphone, you can finish that on your desktop and send. Users just have to log into both the devices (mobile phone and desktop) at the same time. Also, if you move to a new phone, all your conversations are readily available by simply logging into your account.