Step aside Google Messages, there is another challenger here to take on iMessage. Earlier this year, a Google executive called out iMessage for “green bubble bullying” and now Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is taking it up against Apple’s messaging service.
The executive says that WhatsApp is “far more private and secure than iMessage” in a new post shared on Instagram. It brings up end-to-end encryption that is available on iPhones as well as Android phones for group chats, backups, disappearing messages, and more. He points out that these features are not available on iMessage.
The image shows an ad for WhatsApp shown at Penn Station, which is a part of a marketing campaign that started in January this year and is expanding now. The idea is to bring more people to WhatsApp by telling them how safe and secure it is with end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp is highly popular in most other parts of the world, but it struggles to keep up in the US where iMessage and iPhones are prevalent.
WhatsApp is even taking on SMS texts in its ad campaign, claiming that they are not secure, unlike WhatsApp. The ad says that nearly 5.5 billion SMS texts are sent daily in the US, even though they are not safe. Part of the reason is that the service comes pre-installed on almost every phone. iMessage also resorts to sending an SMS if there is no internet connection available.
Again, WhatsApp made sure to remind users that SMS texts do not have end-to-end encryption available, just like iMessage.
We’re expanding the marketing campaign we started back in January to tell people in the U.S. about the importance of end-to-end encryption. 5.5 billion SMS messages are still sent daily in the U.S., but SMS messages aren’t secure. pic.twitter.com/c0P8FW37Rw
— Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) October 17, 2022
Head of WhatsApp at Meta, Will Cathcart, says that the messenger app is growing in the US, but they want to continue and pick up even more.
