Talk to me about smartphones and WhatsApp please

[ImAThrillseekerHoney]

DD (year 7) has the world's cheapest and most basic phone for texting me and her friends. However most of her mates have smartphones (usually their parents' handmedowns) and communicate using WhatsApp instead of texting. I don't care about her having the "wrong" phone but I do mind her being physically unable to join in, so I was thinking of getting her a bottom of the line Android Samsung Galaxy for her birthday - and moving her from PAYG to a GiffGaff monthly tariff to keep the costs manageable.

What do I need to know about and be careful of on smartphones in general and WhatsApp in particular? How open is it to stranger interactions? Thanks.

I use what's app to share life with my best friend 500 miles away.

It will bring up the what's app profile of anyone who's phone number is stored in the phone. I don't know of any way of searching for someone who you don't already know.

You can send photos videos text and voice recordings.
It's better than things like snap chat as a record is kept

Thanks Herrena, that's reassuring.

You need the person's phone number to be able to message them. It uses internet so all you really need is an internet booster to use it. It saves a lot of money I have phone in photo messaging and in texts.

Ive had whatsapp for two Years and find it very useful. All you need is an android phone to use it

It works kind of like email/instant messaging on your phone. It's not charged per message like text messaging, and if you send a picture or a video you don't incur a MMS charge. If you're at home and using wifi, it's free - but if you're out of the house and use 3G/4G, you'll incur data charges (or it'll use up some of your data allowance if that's part of your mobile package). It only uses a tiny amount of data for messages, but if you're sending lots of photos or video/audio files, it'll use more.

It's about as secure as text messaging - as others have said you need someone's phone number to message them.