Whatsapp recently updated some of the privacy olicy related to how they will collect data from user and how they will use the data collected from user. Few weeks back, Whatsapp user got a pop up notification while opening the app asking the user to 'Agree' or 'Not Now' option to either accept the new privacy policy or simply skip the notification for now. We will see what are all the changes that was made recently by the parent company Facebook, which was turned into a debate worldwide.
Details Collected by Whatsapp
Whatsapp will collect pretty much every information about your mobile phone that you use to access the service like
- Phone Model
- Network operator
- Signal Strength
- OS version
- Time Zone
- How you use Whatsapp
- Status
- About Info
- Group Names
- Profile Pictures
- Group Pictures
Those information's will also be shared to the company's like Facebook and Instagram, thanks to the new privacy policy updated on Jan 4, 2020 which will be used to improve the ad recommendations shown on the Facebook and Instagram to serve you better, as per Facebook.
"Use Signal"
This updated privacy policy turned the way Whatsapp used to collect data from user and upsets lot of users around the world and the users started to bash about this privacy policy update in social media like twitter and one of them is the world's richest person in the world and the CEO of Tesla and Space X, Elon Musk and he simply tweeted 'Use Signal', which is an open source and privacy oriented messaging service like Whatsapp.
Privacy Policy Removed
After this tweet and a massive opposition from user all around the world, this new privacy update was the talk of the town and user expressing their thoughts about this move in social media and some of them advised to delete Whatsapp account and look for an alternative. Because of this issue, Whatsapp is now removed their updated privacy policy from their website recently and the current version was last modified on July 20, 2020.
Back in July, Whatsapp at least provided an option to either 'Accept' the policy about sharing the data or to opt-out from sharing the data to Whatsapp. But now, If any existing user not accepting the new privacy policy on or before Feb 8, 2020, they can't use Whatsapp service anymore. Its more or like deleting the account.
Should we delete Whatsapp?
It's purely based on the personal choice. One who is currently using the service and can't able to switch immediately to other services and don't care about the personal information collected by Whatsapp should continue using the service without any second thoughts.
But for those who is really concerns about their privacy and serious about what personal information company collects about users, should consider switching for a better alternative for this messaging service.
Better Alternatives
Is there any better alternate available for Whatsapp right now? And the answer is 'YES'. To keep the privacy in mind, there are two alternatives for Whatsapp, which has almost all the features Whatsapp has without compromising the privacy.
Both these services are claiming to not collect any personal details of user and provider End-to-End encryption during messaging and protects privacy of the user. Both these alternatives were available in wide range of platforms like Windows, Android, IOS, MAC and Linux as well.
Most of all, both these services are open source, which means anyone can get the source code from them and audit the code for any miscellaneous activities.
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