Whatsapp App Discussion Thread

[AMH]

They need it to make it profitable in some way.

Whats the plan how are they going to monetize updates?
Ads?

[JMHO]

I don't like these updates. Bring back the simple whatsapp please

Ok, I'll let Mark know.

[AMH]

I don't like these updates. Bring back the simple whatsapp please

Do they not realize that its the most used Messaging app because its simple and basic.........

[AMH]

They need it to make it profitable in some way.

How where they making money till now?

[ah giten]

Whats the plan how are they going to monetize updates?
Ads?

They didn't give me their roadmap. But I believe they are aiming somewhere to profit. So far they spend a high price on WA, and it's only cost them.

[JMHO]

Do they not realize that its the most used Messaging app because its simple and basic.........

Texting is pretty simple and basic too.
It takes time to get used to change but they paid 19B for WA for a reason...

[AMH]

[Morgen]

What about Google Chat as an alternative?

(I think it is used a lot in Israel - quite surprising that it did not take off in US)

[myi]

It's about time they added a feature to change the resolution of a picture on whatsapp.
 They used to kill the resolution by default.
And should you have wanted the full resolution you would have needed to attach as a file which was a ...

[Yonah]

Anyone out there using a WhatsApp responder for a shul minyan time bot?

i.e. Text Whataspp to say - what time is mincha today and have it respond?

[lcm]

Anyone out there using a WhatsApp responder for a shul minyan time bot?

i.e. Text Whataspp to say - what time is mincha today and have it respond?

Not using one, but some leads:
WhatsApp business can have a default auto respond when you message it.
WhatsApp made it easier for (paid?) Customer service chat services to be integrated to whatsapp business, and once you have one of those, you can set them up pretty extensively to answer many question automatically

[herb]

How come a bunch of my chats look like this after backup to new phone? It's been a couple days and still hasn't changed

[Yo ssi]

These updates are coming fast!
New emoji picker

[Essen est zich]

Are there issues with media upload/vn?

[lcm]

Are there issues with media upload/vn?

https://wabetainfo.com/whatsapp-is-experiencing-outages-in-sending-media-messages/

[Dan]

https://wabetainfo.com/whatsapp-is-experiencing-outages-in-sending-media-messages/

BH!

[Essen est zich]

https://crownheights.info/op-ed/824550/op-ed-a-new-whatsapp-feature-may-imperil-our-frum-way-of-life/

(Im not downplaying the issue in the op-ed)


Time to move over to signal?

[lcm]

https://crownheights.info/op-ed/824550/op-ed-a-new-whatsapp-feature-may-imperil-our-frum-way-of-life/

(Im not downplaying the issue in the op-ed)


Time to move over to signal?

It will take a while till there are many channels in operation.
And even then, there are filters that could block it.

[AMH]

MAILBAG: The Latest Threat To The Frum Community

https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/2200161/mailbag-the-latest-threat-to-the-frum-community.html

WhatsApp is a useful tool that many of us frum Jews use. It enables us to communicate with our family, friends, rabbonim, and community in a secure and convenient way. WhatsApp was always regarded as relatively clean and kosher, compared to other social media platforms that are full of harmful and distracting content.

But this may soon change with WhatsApp Channels, a new feature that will allow users to follow people and organizations they are interested in in a separate tab called Updates. WhatsApp Channels is a tool for admins to send text, photos, videos, stickers, and polls to their followers. Users can find and join channels through a directory they can search or invite links sent in chats, email, or online.

This is very much like Twitter or any other social media platform, which we know are not kosher at all. In fact, WhatsApp Channels is designed to compete with Twitter and attract more users to its platform. Social media is known to expose us to negative influences, waste our precious time, and lower our standards of tznius and kedusha. Even if WhatsApp claims that Channels will be private and protected by strong privacy measures, we know that there is no guarantee that the content will be beneficial or suitable for our neshamos.

I am very concerned about this new feature, since WhatsApp is already on almost everyone’s devices and people will probably ignore it without realizing it is a full-scale Twitter-like social media. I fear that many of us will be tempted to follow channels that are not aligned with our values and mission as frum Jews. I also worry that some of us may create channels that are not appropriate for our audience or purpose.

Therefore, I urge all of us to be cautious and vigilant about this new feature. We should not compromise on our standards of communication and information consumption.

One possible solution is to switch to Signal, another chat app that is similar to WhatsApp but does not have the Channels feature. Signal is also much more encrypted and secure than WhatsApp, so we can communicate with more confidence and privacy. Alternatively, we can disable the Updates tab on WhatsApp or limit ourselves to only follow channels that are relevant and kosher for us.

WhatsApp Channels is a risk to kosher communication. We should not let it undermine our commitment to Torah and Yiddishkeit. We should not let it interfere with our connection to Hashem.

Name withheld upon request

[motec bb]

MAILBAG: The Latest Threat To The Frum Community

https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/general/2200161/mailbag-the-latest-threat-to-the-frum-community.html

This is the response I received from Gentech regarding "Whatsapp Channels"

""Dear customer, once the feature is available for WhatsApp users, we are going to test the feature and how it can be filtered and we are going to announce the resolution regarding the feature. ""