Free communication: Skype, Viber, WhatsApp and others - Gusarev Journal - LJ. Similar analogues of WhatsApp Apps like whatsapp

WhatsApp has long been the "people's" messenger in Russia. Ease of use, the ability to create large chat groups, the import of videos, music and photos from various social networks and the possibility of free online calls conquered the audience, which is why in our country they often do not even look towards other similar applications. At the same time, more than one WhatsApp alternative has appeared on the market, which may be more suitable for user requests. In this article, we will analyze the main messengers on the market today in terms of their features, advantages and disadvantages.

Viber

A few years ago, Viber almost snatched the lead in the messenger race from WhatsApp. The application first introduced the possibility of free video calls, which attracted millions of users around the world. This was followed by bans in several countries for security reasons, the introduction of paid calls and a general exodus of users. Viber was not hit hard by all these difficulties. The application has been developing well in the direction of social services, the opportunity has opened up to maintain your own microblogs here, which is why you can now subscribe to almost everything that interests you personally. Viber is especially convenient for the service sector, because here you can now often book a table in a restaurant, find out about discounts in your favorite stores, and even inquire about the status of your account with your Internet provider.

Viber Benefits:

1. Security. All your private calls and correspondence are protected with an end-to-end connection, i.e. the fact of your negotiations is recorded only on the devices of the negotiators.
2. Great look. Viber is the most beautiful messenger on the market. This can be seen both in the design of the application itself, and in the drawing of all kinds of stickers, emoticons and animations. For connoisseurs of the beautiful Viber - no alternative choice.
3. The presence of a large amount of interesting content, in addition to communication: here you have representative offices of TV channels and the media, and various microblogs, and a bunch of companies represented here.

Disadvantages of Viber:

1. Compared to the same vatsap, Viber often seems “overloaded”. Beginners and inexperienced users of mobile devices can find it difficult to figure out what's what.
2. Some features are paid.

Telegram is the brainchild of Pavel Durov, who once created the social network Vkontakte. For a long time, Telegram boasted of its exceptional security, advertised as a messenger that could not be hacked. And this is absolutely true, only recently both WhatsApp and Viber have advanced so much in their security that it has ceased to be a unique telegram selling proposition. By this point, however, Telegram has become almost a secular hangout place for the advanced part of the Russian blogosphere, so this is where all the biggest insiders, political battles and other intellectual movements take place.

And more recently, Telegram has also introduced the possibility of calls, which finally equalized it with competitors.

Advantages of Telegram

1. The most secure messenger on the market. One has only to mark your chat as "secure conversation", and it will become literally invisible to everyone else.
2. Simple and beautiful design. Telegram is very easy to learn and really fun to use.
3. An overwhelming amount of user-generated content. Here you have anonymous blogs, and various homemade sticker sets, and game bots.

Disadvantages of Telegram

1. A huge number of scandals in our press led to the fact that Telegram partially made concessions in its cryptographic system. Therefore, now, to protect data, you have to press a special “secure conversation” button, otherwise your correspondence could potentially be hacked.
2. Poor search for social services, they have to go from links from third-party resources.

snapchat

A teenage messenger for those whose communication takes place mainly on an emotional level. Snapchat allows people to communicate through various video embeds, photo overlays and other touching things that, as it turns out, are simply necessary for some segments of the population.

Benefits of Snapchat:

1. "Developed Chats". Lots of opportunities for communication through stickers, video inserts, edited photos.
2. Cool application design and its general "subculture".

Disadvantages of Snapchat:

1. Big anonymity issues - Snapchat just isn't made for it.
2. The "heaviness" of the messenger, which simply refuses to work for many users of weak smartphones.

So, as you can see, there are plenty of worthy alternatives to the glorious WhatsApp. Choose which messenger you like more in terms of functions and interface.

WhatsApp is the most popular messenger in the world thanks to 1 billion users in 180 countries.

With Facebook buying WhatsApp in 2014, privacy experts and security conscious users have sounded the alarm. After all, Facebook's products and the third-party apps it uses have been hacked multiple times and thousands of users' sensitive data has been stolen. At the same time, the company WhatsApp has always insisted that their app functions separately. that they are committed to creating and maintaining a reliable and secure messenger.

This will change soon. Facebook representatives recently announced that they want to merge their three messengers. Company is going to merge Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and messenger functions of the Instagram platform so that users can exchange messages between these platforms.

Our source confirms that these plans also include rolling out end-to-end encryption on all three platforms. In theory, this would make Facebook Messenger and Instagram as reliable platforms as WhatsApp. On the other hand, it could make the WhatsApp messenger less reliable if it had to meet the standards of the other two platforms.

Whatsapp Security Gaps

WhatsApp promises users end-to-end encryption - excellent protection. Of course, there are several issues that developers need to work on.

The service disclaimer states: “As part of the Facebook group of companies, WhatsApp receives information from them and share data with them. We may use the information we receive from these companies, and they, in turn, may use the information we share with them to help manage, provide, improve, recognize, customize, support, and market our Services and their offerings.”

“Facebook and other companies in the Facebook group of companies may also use our information. to improve the services delivered to users, for example, to offer some company products.”

“We do not store our users' messages when we are in the routine business of providing our Services. In doing so, we store information about our users' accounts, including user profile pictures, usernames, and profile status, if the user chooses to provide it as their primary profile information."

In other words, this means that your messages are protected, but at the same time WhatsApp stores user data on private servers. The Company reserves the right to use this data for marketing purposes.

Moreover, data that is stored on their servers may be shared with government authorities in the event of an emergency. Hackers can also break into the security of WhatsApp servers and gain access to phone numbers and user profile data.

5 Best WhatsApp Alternatives - These Apps Will Protect You and Your Privacy

1. signal

Signal messenger is free, uses strong data encryption and works on all mobile platforms. Like most other instant messengers, the application Signal is very easy to use. You can also make voice and video calls so you won't miss WhatsApp.

Signal also has a desktop app, so you can use it on your computer too and not just on smartphones.

Each message is encrypted, only the recipient and sender can read it. Messages cannot be hacked by hackers. Signal uses open source encryption, so that experts can always test it on their own and find bugs. This makes the application even more reliable.

Users can delete your messages by setting the time interval after which they are automatically deleted. This guarantees your privacy even if someone else gains access to your smartphone.

In Signal no animated emoji. But you can import emoji from your device into the app.

pros

• End-to-End Encryption
• Open source encryption
• Available for all major platforms
• "Disappearing" messages

Minuses

• No animated emoji

2.Threema

Threema promises users absolute privacy. Your contact lists and group chat data are stored exclusively on your device and not in the app. Messages are deleted immediately after reading. Plus, you can chat with people with your 8-digit Threema ID without using your phone number, further protecting your data. You can check contacts with unique QR codes.

Threema uses end-to-end encryption for all types of messages, including text, voice calls, files, and group chats. The app even encrypts your status so no one can track what you post. Messages can only be read by the intended recipients.

You can safely use the Threema web browser extension. Like WhatsApp, the application has editing functions, you can specify the location and send files. Unlike WhatsApp, users can create polls and likes on individual messages. You can even hide certain chats and protect access to them with a password.

Threema is registered in Switzerland, which is famous for its user privacy laws.

pros

• No need to use a phone number
• Contacts can be checked using QR codes
• Text editing functions
• You can password protect chats

Minuses

• Paid App

3.Telegram

Telegram has over 200 million active users, making it a popular WhatsApp alternative. The cloud application works on all platforms. Like WhatsApp, it uses a two-tick system to show that the message has been read by the recipient.

The application defaults to end-to-end encryption for voice calls so no one can eavesdrop on your conversations. At the same time, message encryption must be enabled manually so that they do not accumulate.

Like the Signal app, Telegram allows you to automatically delete messages after a certain amount of time. Here you can also share multimedia files.

pros

• Simple and convenient platform
• Cloud storage so you don't lose important data

Minuses

• Encryption is not enabled by default, it must be enabled manually
• The developers have created their own encryption standards, which have been criticized more than once

4.Wire

The Wire app is protected by European data retention laws, so it's a secure messenger that uses end-to-end encryption. There are free individual accounts and paid plans for business. with additional features and support. The Wire service prides itself on making video and audio communications between users seamless.

Wire supports 1:1 screen sharing for group chats as well. Also supported here distribution of multimedia files and filtering of audio files. You can log into your account from up to eight synced devices, and the app is compatible with all major platforms.

You can make text bold and italic, and create chat lists. You will also be able optimize file sizes for easier sharing, as well as set timers to delete messages for added protection.

pros

• Secure Chats
• Self-deleting messages
• Ability to use 8 devices simultaneously
• Graphically rich dialogues

Minuses

• Paid App

5. Riot.IM

The application supports Internet telephony and video calls, and also encrypts the end-to-end message method. Each user receives a unique identification number; this number is used instead of a phone number to protect the anonymity of users.

Riot works on the base open source. There are bots here, but any developer can create their own. This is how users can interact with the application, making it more flexible and secure. Due to its open source code, Riot is more suitable for development teams than enterprise clients.

The Riot app is powered by various chat rooms, and users can go to any public chats. There are also private chats here, which can be accessed via an invitation link.

In addition to all, desktop application has a simple and user-friendly interface, and the application itself is available in seven languages. You will also be able to interact with other applications.

pros

• User ID instead of phone number
• Open source program
• Simple and convenient desktop client
• The app is available in seven languages

Minuses

• Encryption is not enabled by default, must be enabled manually

If you want to be sure that your private messages remain private, you should forget about WhatsApp and look for safer alternatives. The applications suggested in our review are known for their safety.

Looking for more security tools? Read our articles on how

I decided to write this short post after reading exler review "4talk - a fundamentally new cloud messenger", which tells about the messenger, in a number of ways more interesting than the popular WhatsApp and Viber. I constantly and actively correspond, but I haven’t used WhatsApp, Viber, or this new 4talk for a long time, and I don’t plan to. There is a more convenient way, it's strange that no one talks about it, preferring some additional applications.

The article and comments to it correctly point out some of the weak points of popular instant messengers: Skype does not synchronize history via the cloud, WhatsApp and Viber cannot work [without dancing] on more than one device, and are not designed for devices without a SIM card. 4talk stands out against this background due to cloudiness and history can be read on all devices. In addition, it allows you to send geo-position, documents and photos from the device to another subscriber.

What prevents you from using Vkontakte as a messenger? I rarely meet people who don't have an account there. Less than those who do not have Viber or WhatsApp, and even iMessage is not connected. Once again, there is a feeling that the possibilities of the social network are somehow underestimated. Compared with the described messengers, Vkontakte has all the main features - sending simple text messages, an impressive gallery of emoticons, transferring photos and documents. You can attach your location to the message (and it will open in the maps on the device) to conveniently tell your friends where to come and where you are. You can even attach music and videos, including those shot directly on the device. Message notifications come in the same way as SMS, and messages from the same messengers. You can immediately understand what is read and what is not.

Group chats are also well organized there, I took part in several projects that used chats via VK for discussions by a group of specialists. There were no complaints about how it works.

AND, The main thing, unlike messengers, Vkontakte is a much more multiplatform thing. Want to reply from iOS, five minutes later from Android, and then from a tablet? No problem. Chat from laptop or computer? It also works. Simultaneously, from two hands, from different gadgets, including those where there are no SIM cards? No problem.

Forgot your device at home or the battery is dead? You can access VK from any device that has a browser - a computer, laptop, tablet. Even in a public place or from a friend's device. Your history is always stored on the server, and you can open it after as much time as you like.

And, judging by the fact that the web interface already has the ability to make video calls, sooner or later it will also be added to the mobile client.

So why, tell me, use scanty messengers?

P.S. For those who do not use VK, Facebook is suitable for the same purposes. He can do a little, but not by much.

A modern person spends most of the day in close proximity to his smartphone and open Wi-Fi networks, so it is not surprising that we receive SMS only from banks, but we communicate with friends mainly through various instant messengers. The most common of them is WhatsApp. According to Statista, 1 billion people around the world use it every month. In addition, it is the most popular app in 109 countries around the world. How much does it cost to exchange messages, and how to create whatsapp? Let's figure it out.

The main functions of the WhatsApp messenger

• Registration by phone number
• Realtime events
• Sending files and images
• Recording voice messages
• Voice calls

First, we will take a closer look at the features needed to create a WhatsApp clone, and then we will determine how much WhatsApp costs.

Application prototype

How to make WhatsApp with a user-friendly design? It's hard not to notice that all modern messengers are made like a blueprint. And users, oddly enough, like it: in such a standard design, remarks are clearly separated, and recent conversations are displayed at the top of the contact list, so everything is very easy to find.

Here is the design of several popular instant messaging apps:

Realtime events

The development of WhatsApp includes the implementation of notifications and real-time events, to which the UI must respond accordingly. To do this, technologies such as push notifications (preferably when the application is in the background or not active at all) and WebSocket (to implement a constant two-way connection while the application is online) are used. Events such as receiving a new message and adding a friend have a high priority and are transmitted through both channels (push and websocket) depending on the current state of the application. In turn, the statuses “online”, “printing”, “read”, etc. are transmitted only via websocket and directly control the application UI in real time. You can read more about implementing real-time events in our . Creating a corporate messenger for our client, we used:

• Mobile Database Realm
• RESTful API
• Retrofit 2.0 library
• Firebase Cloud Messaging for push notifications

Sending files and images

Gone are the days when chat rooms were exclusively for text messaging and emoticons, and now users are constantly sending each other photos, videos, and all sorts of links. To add a file to the chat of your application, you will need to implement several algorithms - this is due to differences in operating system versions and can take significant debugging time. Fortunately, our developers have implemented a library that will greatly help speed up this process.

Recording voice messages

When it is not possible to make a call, and it will take too long to write everything in text, you can record a voice message. Therefore, an application like WhatsApp should be able to record and send them. In addition, the message should be played directly in the chat window, without opening external programs, and have a pause and rewind. File recording is carried out using a standard set of OS functions. Next, the file is sent to the server, where it waits for the recipient to pick it up. That is, in this case, the server is an intermediary between client applications.

Voice calls

Voice calls are perhaps the most difficult and costly task when building an application like WhatsApp, as the quality of voice communication depends on many factors, and most of them need to be considered and tested. At first, you can not even add voice communication, but do it later, as, for example, Slack did, which only offers this option to premium subscribers. For Voice over IP (VoIP) functionality, WhatsApp uses the PJSIP library to provide multimedia communication.

We hope you understand how the WhatsApp app works and what you need to create it. Now let's move on to more pressing issues. What will be the cost of WhatsApp, given the features described in this article?

whatsapp development cost

Developing instant messaging apps like WhatsApp will cost you $50,000 or more:

• Prototyping - from $5000
• Application development (iOS + Android) - from $28,000
• Backend - from $17000

Also, do not forget about such WhatsApp functionality as cryptography and calls, the cost depends on the options for implementing this functionality.

Incredible Facts

Today it is almost impossible to imagine your life without applications designed for messaging.

Whatsapp is one of the most popular applications, which helps to stay in touch with friends and acquaintances.

There are many features in this application that users are not even aware of, but which can greatly improve their text communication skills.

1. Become invisible on Whatsapp.

To remove evidence that you have read messages, go to Settings - Account - Privacy - Read receipts and uncheck. However, if you turn this option off all the time, it can become suspicious.

Before opening a questionable chat, you can also turn on airplane mode. Now you can read messages without getting notifications. Exit messages before turning off airplane mode and the message will remain unread for the sender.

2.Hide visiting time in WhatsApp.

If you want to avoid an awkward conversation and don't want others to see when you last visited a chat, this can be easily done.

Go to Settings - Account - Privacy - Visit time, and choose who can see when you were last active.

3. Recover deleted WhatsApp conversations

If you accidentally deleted messages, don't worry, because there is a way to restore the conversation. However, you need to anticipate the situation.

To do this, you need to set up a backup of your chats. Go to . You can then choose to back up daily, weekly, or monthly. Whatsapp will only copy your chats when the phone is on.

If you accidentally deleted a message or chats, you can restore them by reinstalling this app.

4. Quote a WhatsApp message as proof

Instead of scrolling through hundreds of messages and taking a screenshot to prove that your friend promised to come 2 hours ago, use the quote feature.

To do this, you need to select the desired message by holding it and pressing on arrow on the left(on Android) or the " Answer" on iPhone to quote the desired message.

5. Make text bold, italic or strikethrough in Whatsapp

WhatsApp is very handy for a lot of things, but like all text messages, it doesn't convey intonation well. You can use bold, italics, and even strikethrough for these purposes.

If you want to put emphasis on a certain word, you need to use certain keyboard shortcuts.

To make it bold, you need to put an asterisk on both sides of the word, *like this*, use underscore for italics _words_, and for strikethrough a wavy hyphen ~like this~. Also you can combine *_bold italics_*.

6. Disable Notifications in Whatsapp Chats

For example, you want to know what time the meeting is tomorrow. But this simple question turned into a three-hour conversation between the rest of the chat participants.

You can now avoid annoying notifications by selecting the name of the chat at the top and selecting silent mode. Click on the button Do not disturb in the top right corner and uncheck the option Show notifications.

7. Disable saving WhatsApp photos in your gallery

All files you receive are automatically saved to your phone's gallery. If your friends are sending photos that you don't want others to see, there is a way to avoid this. For iPhone go to Settings - Chats and disable the option Media Visibility.

In addition, you can hide photos received on WhatsApp by creating a .nomedia file.

For Android, you must have a file manager installed, which can be downloaded from the Google Play Store. After downloading go to Images/WhatsApp Images and create a file called .nomedia.

8. Save smartphone memory from unnecessary files in WhatsApp

When someone sends you pictures, gifs, audio and video files, they are downloaded automatically. To prevent them from clogging your smartphone's internal memory, set it to download only the types of files you need when you're connected to Wi-Fi or a mobile network.

For iOS Go to Settings - Data, where you can choose the download method. For Android, go to to find them.

9.Create a WhatsApp Shortcut for a Specific Contact

If you find it difficult to always look for your best friend in the general mass of WhatsApp chats, you can give preference to certain people (if you have Android). You can shorten your search time by saving shortcuts to your favorite WhatsApp contacts on your phone screen.

Click on the desired chat and in the menu (ellipsis in the upper right corner) and select " Add Label", and a shortcut with the contact will appear on your phone screen.

10. Mute WhatsApp sounds and hide chat from prying eyes

There are times when you don't want someone to see your WhatsApp messages.

11. Send private messages to many users on WhatsApp

If you want to send one message to a whole range of people, you don't have to create a group chat where everyone can chat with each other. In this case, it is better to choose the mailing list.

Click on the menu button in the top right corner and select New newsletter. This will allow you to send one message to many people, creating an individual chat with each.

12. Transfer your WhatsApp messages to another phone

If you don't want to lose your messages when you get a new phone, for example, you can back up your messages.

Go to Settings - Chats - Chat Backup and save a copy of messages daily, weekly or monthly. When you sign in to WhatsApp on your new phone, the messages will move to your new device.

13. Easily Find Important WhatsApp Messages

Many people know the feeling when you have to flip through several hundred messages to find a message about the right address or meeting time. But there is an easier way to do this.

Hold the desired message and click on the icon stars.

You can now view all flagged messages in the menu where you will find the option Featured Posts.

14. Find out when your message was read (Checkmarks in WhatsApp)

Hold on the message you sent and tap on the " info". You will see a window where you will see who read and who received the message with the specified time when it happened.

15. Keep private in Whatsapp group chat

If you don't want friends of friends you've never seen but are in a group chat with to see your personal information, you can make the necessary changes.

You can restrict access to your profile photo and personal status by going to Settings - Account - Privacy, and choosing the options you want.

16. Mark unread Whatsapp chat

Let's say you can't reply to a message right now, but you don't want to risk your friendship with the person. You can set a visual reminder that you have messages to reply to.

This can be done in the chat list, highlighting a chat and marking it as unread.

Instead of dictating a message, you can use Siri (for iPhone) to control WhatsApp without having to pick up your phone. To do this, you must have the latest version of WhatsApp installed, where you can say: " Hey Siri. send whatsapp to mom".

You can also read messages using Siri by saying: " Hey Siri. Read latest whatsapp messages" and you will hear the latest unread messages.

For Android users use OK Google by asking " send whatsapp to (name)".

18. Make a WhatsApp video call

To make a video call, open a contact and click the video icon.

19. Draw on photos or add emoticons on WhatsApp

Take a photo in the app and then use the various tools at the top of the screen to draw on the photo, add emoji or text.

20. Turn Videos into Gifs on Whatsapp

WhatsApp already has a large gallery of GIFs that you can send to friends and family in messages. If you don't find the GIF you need, you can convert your own videos to GIF format. Click on the photo and video gallery icon, select a video and press the GIF button in the upper right corner.