Today, I finally deleted WhatsApp

2026-03-23 17:06 UTC

It has been a long journey. I have been gradually convincing my family, close relatives and friends to make the switch to Signal for over two years. I am already the “tech support guy” in all my circles so most didn’t really question it. Most of my friends are quite tech-savvy, and some even did use Signal before I talked to them about it. This also filtered out some “friends” who were never that close to me to begin with. So, that’s a bonus, I guess. Overall, my recommendation to others interested would be to tell people how much you don’t like Meta’s business model instead of the privacy aspect. I already ditched Facebook and Instagram many years ago, and this helped defend my point a bit better.

Replies (19)

@PiraHxCx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-03-23 18:02

In my country nowadays you can't even contact companies and services through regular phone number, you gotta message them on Whatsapp, and I mean, you use Whatsapp to talk with the guy from your neighborhood that fixes roofs to international banking institutions.

Open ##2306192
@technomage@lemmy.ca 2026-03-23 21:07

I don't think I've ever actually used WhatsApp. An old boss tried to tell me that it was mandatory for my job (there was a group chat where management insisted on tracking every single thing we did). Fortunately, Ontario has somewhat decent labour laws where if you're required to use an app or something on your phone, your employer now gets to pay for your phone bill! Needless to say, she backed off pretty quick lol Also, the concept of NEEDING WhatsApp for daily life is wild to me. It's not the norm for businesses, banks, etc to require it, and if someone says they do, it's probably a scam here...

Open ##2306193
@eager_eagle@lemmy.world 2026-03-23 17:23

I've done it quietly 4y ago, only told some closer relatives. It was kind of funny when relatives I wasn't talking to told my closer ones that we were keeping in touch on WhatsApp, not even aware I wasn't in the platform for over 6 months at that point. Now after years and leaving 2 family groups, politics, and a whole lot of drama behind, I feel it was a great decision, and the only regret was not doing it earlier.

Open ##2306194
@Broiled_Tofu@lemmy.zip 2026-03-23 18:51

I feel bad for Europeans or folks who need what's app. Needing Big Tech that impeds social media into your texting app is insane.

Open ##2306195
@Prove_your_argument@piefed.social 2026-03-23 18:23

In latin america, this is basically impossible. This also covers people who message a lot of people in latin america. They may technically be able to switch, but most of latin america uses things like whatsapp for official communication.

Open ##2306196
@butsbutts@lemmy.ml 2026-03-24 02:45

yay you did itt

Open ##2306197
@TheLastOfHisName@piefed.social 2026-03-23 19:01

Just deleted it from my phone. Thanks for the reminder.

Open ##2306198
@Aaoograha_hoa@lemmy.ml 2026-03-23 21:03

Can you expand a bit what you tell people about not liking Meta's business model? I got some people to follow me to Signal, but only for messaging with my husband and me. They don't really care for the privacy aspect, so I'm curious about your other arguments!

Open ##2306199
@fierysparrow89@lemmy.world 2026-03-24 18:12

🎖️

Open ##2306200
@Mynameisallen@lemmy.zip 2026-03-23 17:59

Yeah I made the call a couple months back and it felt really good to be done

Open ##2306201
@unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-03-23 22:23

Good job!

Open ##2306202
@joeyboon@lemy.nl 2026-03-23 18:00

I'm planning to delete my WhatsApp by the end of the month and have used [Watomatic](https://f-droid.org/packages/com.parishod.watomatic) to send an out of office like message during this month saying I'm no longer reading WhatsApp and how to contact me (Signal, Threema, email). Worked great! Pushed some groups I'm on to Signal without me even asking! The beta group function is still a bit buggy. But would definitely recommend.

Open ##2306203
@mlxdy@lemmy.world 2026-04-03 17:41

I need sometimes to create Whatsapp account for some purpose then I'm deleting it.

Open ##2306204
@BladeFederation@piefed.social 2026-03-23 22:42

Congrats! I know too many foreigners to get rid of WhatsApp. I try to count my blessings that it's not WeChat or Facebook Messenger that inexplicably became popular worldwide.

Open ##2306205
@arschfidel@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-03-24 14:24

Congrats! I'm glad I never started using it, cause while it hasn't been easy I think it's likely much harder to get off of it. So good job!

Open ##2306206
@AnUnassumingStick@lemmy.ml 2026-03-23 18:00

Lucky, my social circle's technologically illiterate AND doesn't care what happens to their personal data so I'm stuck with both Facebook & WhatsApp :/ One saving grace is that I don't have either installed on my "main" phone. Signal's not great for privacy either tbf - Meta is just a very very low bar to be better than.

Open ##2306207
@Ascendor@discuss.tchncs.de 2026-03-24 18:37

Congratulations. For me, it was also nearly two years of work, it's just already a few years ago.

Open ##2306208
@suruij@lemmy.ml 2026-03-23 21:01

eversince i started using beeper im contempt HAAHAHH all my messaging needs in one app running on device<33 (would love if it'd be foss but it is what it is)

Open ##2306209
@SleepyPie@lemmy.world 2026-03-23 20:01

And to think in ~6 months you’ll probably need to go through that whole song and dance again when you switch them to Matrix 😔

Open ##2306210