Launched in 2009, WhatsApp is one of the most popular text and voice messaging apps. It’s free to use, and you can send messages, make voice calls, and host video chats on both desktop and mobile devices.
Part of what makes this app appealing is that it works on various phone and computer operating systems, helping with messaging. It can also take advantage of Wi-Fi and cellular data to make one-on-one or group calls.
The popularity of WhatsApp is due to the fact that it’s free, it doesn’t have ads, and of course, it has a huge existing userbase. It also features end-to-end encryption, so your messages are private and secure. However, recent security policy changes mean the app can share some of your data with Facebook.
In addition to standard one-on-one and group chats, you can also do voice or video calls free of charge, even internationally. Just keep in mind that this will eat up your data when not connected to Wi-Fi.
With every message and call end-to-end encrypted by default, WhatsApp is quite secure for virtually all uses. This level of encryption means that not even WhatsApp (or its parent company Facebook) can see the content of your messages, despite what you might hear online.
