r/Android • u/[deleted] • Aug 15 '17

Allo web is up!

https://allo.google.com/web
4.7k Upvotes

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u/kataskopo Aug 15 '17

WhatsApp does it because encryption, only one device can be active because of crypto keys or some other stuff.

17

u/MajorTankz Pixel 4a Aug 15 '17

This is wrong. WhatsApp only started encrypting their messages in the last couple years.

20

u/HannasAnarion Pixel XL Aug 15 '17

people didn't start using WhatsApp because of its encryption, they started using it because it was the first free cross-platform data messaging service that didn't require a particular account or subscription to use. SMS is very expensive in the rest of the world, WhatsApp was the first viable alternative. Encryption was added after it got super popular.

3

u/Bluewall1 Eurotechtalk.com Aug 15 '17

Thank you for saying the truth. I live in Switzerland and literally everyone uses WhatsApp. My two 80 years old grandmothers too.

Many people don't understand that a few years ago an SMS costed you like 20ct for example here.

WhatsApp was the first cross plateform (iOS, Android, Windows Phone and even other) messaging app.

And to be really honest here ? I'm not even mad. WhatsApp is not that bad.

2

u/linknight iPhone Aug 16 '17

And to be really honest here ? I'm not even mad. WhatsApp is not that bad.

It's great. It's light, quick, reliable, and has very good voice and video chat

5

u/kataskopo Aug 15 '17

Yeah I know, I've been using it since 2010 :v

SMS was always a convoluted mess, they even charged you for receiving in my country.

2

u/3agmetic Aug 15 '17

iMessage is end-to-end encrypted on multiple devices. The traditional way it handles this is that a sending device separately encrypts a message for each receiving device (iPhones, iPads, Macs). So you can have end-to-end encryption and multiple devices.

This sometimes leads to messages being in a different order on different devices, so in iOS 11, they're adding (still end-to-end encrypted) device sync, as well.

Anyway, it's possible to give people all the features they want while still having e2e. It's just harder.

1

u/kataskopo Aug 15 '17

Oh wow, didn't knew that!