Next month, my SO is heading on a cruise. I’m, unfortunately, going to be sitting at home wishing that I was on a cruise to the Caribbean rather than going. Since we’ll be apart for the duration, we’re obviously interested in having some means by which to communicate with one another while she’s on the ship. As card-carrying Apple lovers, we normally just use iMessage to chat. However, the ship apparently offers some messaging platforms as just being usable all the time without otherwise signing up for some sort of data offering from them, which severely limits the options.
Much to my SO’s frustration, though, I’m fairly reluctant to install many of the most popular messaging services on my phone. Why? Because so many of them have absolutely horrible privacy practices. Fortunately, as an iOS user Apple puts this information at the forefront when downloading an app, so I can see exactly how creepy an app is attempting to be. If iMessage isn’t an option, then my fallback would typically be Signal which has this data collection specified in the App Store:
However, Signal is also apparently not an option, so let’s look at what is available…
I’ve had an Instagram account for quite a long time, namely because:
- Tons of musicians I like use it.
- They don’t even allow you to look at posts without an account… a practice Xitter has also adopted. I could gripe about walled gardens, but that’s another post for another time.
Due to Meta’s suspect data collection practices (and that’s putting it lightly), I don’t ever install the app. Instead, I just use the browser on my phone and ignore the site’s desperate pleas for me to install something so they can be as invasive as possible. (I’ve recently taken to doing the same with Threads, though I don’t really use Threads very frequently in the first place.)
While messaging does work via the mobile site for Instagram, it’s annoying to have to periodically go check for new messages since I wouldn’t be receiving any notifications. It’s workable but not ideal… and I sincerely don’t want to install an app which wants to track me this badly:
My browsing history? Really?
By many metrics, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging service on the planet… and was also unfortunately acquired by Meta back in 2014. While there are privacy focused options, like end-to-end encrypted messages, they aren’t enabled by default. And while that’s easy enough to remedy within an individual conversation, the app itself wants access to this bevy of personal information:
It’s not nearly as bad as Instagram, but it’s a far cry from Signal. It may be the most promising option, though.
Snapchat
I had a Snapchat account for a while a few years back that I eventually ended up deleting because I never used it and didn’t feel like keeping the app on my phone. While Snapchat wasn’t the worst service ever, I also don’t really want to leverage it for the sake of just having a one-on-one conversation with a single person. Also, what’s up with the notifications that another person has started typing? That’s just annoying.
It’s actually almost the exact same as WhatsApp, with the difference being that WhatsApp requests “Financial Info” while Snapchat requests “Search History.” Snapchat also doesn’t offer any option for end-to-end encrypted messaging, which is a blog. Naturally, that’s not really want Snapchat is for, but that means it probably doesn’t fit the bill for me.
This one surprised me since I don’t really think of LinkedIn as a messaging platform… though I’ve used the messaging aspect of it quite heavily when speaking with recruiters and HR while applying for new jobs. As I’ve mentioned before, I think of it as an online resume, and I don’t really use LinkedIn for anything outside of that. If I’m not hunting for a job or updating my resume with some new skills, I’m not using LinkedIn. As a result of this, I was curious as to the type of information Microsoft would be wanted to access their social network:
It’s still not as bad as Instagram, but it’s also worse than any of the other options. Similar to Instagram, I could simply use the messaging aspect of the platform from the mobile web and not worry about an app, but having a back-and-forth conversation without push notifications is a janky experience at best… and I don’t think push notifications warrant handing over this treasure trove of information.
The Winner Is?
I’m still holding out hope that iMessage will work, and that if it doesn’t then Signal will work… though if iMessage doesn’t work, then I think Signal has about a snowball’s chance in hell. If I have to pick from one of these options, I’m surprised to admit that I’d likely just use WhatsApp. The data collection isn’t as bad as what I would expect from something owned by Meta, though the messaging focus means that there’s a more limited amount of data to collect.