Has anyone else deleted their WhatsApp account?

[SoberSerena]

I'm considering this over some concerns over how they share data...

I'm just not sure I should take the plunge yet, but I don't know why I'm hesitating. The few good friends and family I'm in touch with regularly speak to me on the phone or in person. I'm not on there that much, so maybe I should go for it, or maybe I need a digital slap round the face from mumsnetters and talked out of it!

what are the data concerns with WhatsApp? I've not heard this and I always use WhatsApp.

@xraydelta, they are doing significantly more than taking down your phone number, was my point. And the way they have handled any questions over how they are harvesting and sharing data has been quite opaque.

I'm not judging you or anyone else for using it and it isn't "a massive deal". If you read the title to my op, I was wondering if anyone else has done it and why. A few people are considering it. You are not one of those people. So, with respect, I'm not sure your line of argument is particularly helpful or relevant to my question. I agree that it isn't a huge deal and I haven't implied it is.

I can't think of a particularly strong reason for me to keep it (such as needing it for work). There are alternative options, such as Signal, for social stuff. I keep in touch through other methods of communication, so at the minute I'm leaning towards deleting it. That isn't "a massive deal" either.

@bigyellowTpot

what are the data concerns with WhatsApp? I've not heard this and I always use WhatsApp.

Their association with Facebook who now owns WhatsApp is a 🚩🚩🚩 for me. As it is quite easy for me not to use it, I can't see any strong arguments here for me hanging on to it

Couldn't give a shite what they see in my What's App messages. I am not sending pictures of my hooha, conspiring to rob the local post office, tax dodging, benefit fraud, posting my pay slips nor filming by husbands ballsack.

Invade away..

Yeah - I'm privacy savvy and I'm confident with using Whatsapp.

You might find this useful (yes its from their website, but regulators mean that they aren't able to lie on their website):

• We can’t see your personal messages or hear your calls, and neither can Facebook: Neither WhatsApp nor Facebook can read your messages or hear your calls with your friends, family, and co-workers on WhatsApp. Whatever you share, it stays between you. That’s because your personal messages are protected by end-to-end encryption. We will never weaken this security and we clearly label each chat so you know our commitment. Learn more about WhatsApp security here.

• We don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging or calling: While traditionally mobile carriers and operators store this information, we believe that keeping these records for two billion users would be both a privacy and security risk and we don’t do it.

• We can’t see your shared location and neither can Facebook: When you share your location with someone on WhatsApp, your location is protected by end-to-end encryption, which means no one can see your location except the people you share it with.

• We don’t share your contacts with Facebook: When you give us permission, we access only the phone numbers from your address book to make messaging fast and reliable, and we don’t share your contacts lists with the other apps Facebook offers.

• Groups remain private: We use group membership to deliver messages and to protect our service from spam and abuse. We don’t share this data with Facebook for ads purposes. Again, these personal chats are end-to-end encrypted so we can’t see their content.

• You can set your messages to disappear: For additional privacy, you can choose to set your messages to disappear from chats after you send them. Learn more in this Help Center article.

• You can download your data: You can download and see what information we have on your account right from within the app. Learn more in this Help Center article.

I definitely have concerns.

People who have had their online data collected and monitored for a period of time (because a government or other organisation is spying on them) and then had AI tools used on that data report that the results are as if someone is living inside your head. They are able to predict what you will think, what you want to buy, before you’ve even thought of it yourself.

@dreamersdown, being privacy savvy, would you keep it if you didn't especially need it though?

I was merely trying to do as you suggested @SoberSerena

"or maybe I need a digital slap round the face from mumsnetters and talked out of it!"

I have really considered all the reasons for an against whatsapp, and have concluded it's both a non issue and would be a real pain to insist on using signal where only three of my contacts are on it...

Well, you've certainly done what you can to give me the digital slap I joked about @xraydelta .

I know you personally don't see any merit in quitting WhatsApp and you've done a really good job of making that clear. So probably not too much need to keep repeating it, but thank you very much for your input.

I don't think any of my contacts are on Signal, but I do tend to pick up the phone to speak to people I really love and want to stay in close contact with, as I said in my op. I don't think that it would be terrible to keep it, but at the same time, I can't see a strong case for having it. I don't really like the big group chats. I'm not on that many anymore (used to be on loads). I think I might call it a "break" rather than quitting permanently. See how I get on without it.

And thank you to everyone else for your input. Really appreciate it and it has helped me see I don't want or need it

I’m probably the only person who prefers targeted adverts advertising things I might actually want. I’m more annoyed that to get “discount” (pay a reasonable price) in tesco I have to use my tesco club card so they know every item I buy.

Also if anyone's interested in my WhatsApp free period, I can report back

The more people make the switch to Signal, the more others will join it. Apart from anything else, it's not good for one company to have such a global monopoly on communications - Facebook, WhatsApp, and instagram? it's insane that it's all Zuckerberg essentially. Even if they weren't doing anything nefarious with their power now (and that's debatable), what's to stop them in the future?

I just told people I was leaving WhatsApp, and many of them followed me to Signal. I refuse to use WhatsApp for anything except work now, and I switched to a WhatsApp business account that sends an automated message to that effect outside of working hours. If they want me, they can find me on Signal or SMS.

Half my friends are on WhatsApp and half on messenger. Wish they’d all choose one 🙈

@NeedAHoliday2021

Half my friends are on WhatsApp and half on messenger. Wish they’d all choose one 🙈

Well, this is the other issue, all these different apps just makes it very complicated.

There's a promising-looking service called Beeper that I read about last year, which aims to consolidate them, but I don't think it's been widely launched yet.

OP let us know how you get on and I found this thread very useful.
I left or closed all my WhatsApp groups over a year ago and nobody can add me anymore without my permission. Even on mute, I found them very annoying for no real gain to me or humanity at large. Never looked back and don't miss it one bit. I still use it with various friends but some work contacts reach out too at times.
Will investigate the alternatives.

hi, I am wanting to delete Facebook which would mean losing messenger. do you have any advice on how you handled the migration? thank you