What App Elon Musk Recommends as An Alternative To WhatsApp

There are countless reasons why you can hate Facebook. The world’s most popular social network might be too intrusive, too restrictive, it has a lot of annoying users and useless posts, and so on. Furthermore, the latest privacy policy updates regarding WhatsApp managed to piss off a lot of people.

WhatsApp users from all across the world received a notification on their screens that urges them to give approval for their data to be collected by Facebook. If they don’t agree, they’ll lose their WhatsApp accounts. Social networks and forums had been flooded with reactions on the topic, and many had been thinking of alternatives.

Try out Signal

Elon Musk, that billionaire whom a lot of people were once thinking that he’s speaking nonsense about space exploration and colonizing Mars, recommends the Signal app as an alternative. He wrote it very briefly:

The first and foremost thing we all should know about Signal is that it also uses encryption to keep the users’ messages private. Elon Musk’s tweet had a tremendous impact on Signal’s fanbase. Although the app had only about 20 million users at the end of December 2020, it’s now enjoying the popularity of 525 million users.

Signal’s description from Google Play is conclusive enough:

Millions of people use Signal every day for free and instantaneous communication anywhere in the world. Send and receive high-fidelity messages, participate in HD voice/video calls, and explore a growing set of new features that help you stay connected. Signal’s advanced privacy-preserving technology is always enabled, so you can focus on sharing the moments that matter with the people who matter to you.

Another strong resemblance that Signal shares with WhatsApp is that both apps work on the Android and iOS platforms, but you can also install them on your desktop computer.

Tonia Nissen
Based out of Detroit, Tonia Nissen has been writing for Optic Flux since 2017 and is presently our Managing Editor. An experienced freelance health writer, Tonia obtained an English BA from the University of Detroit, then spent over 7 years working in various markets as a television reporter, producer and news videographer. Tonia is particularly interested in scientific innovation, climate technology, and the marine environment.