As two of the biggest tech companies in the world, it’s no surprise that Apple and Meta have had an ongoing rivalry for quite some time.
But tensions between the companies appear to be at an all-time high as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has a fresh argument with Apple this week.
Zuckerberg, whose businesses are owned by Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, posted a photo of WhatsApp’s latest ad campaign on his Instagram page yesterday, claiming that WhatsApp is “far more private and secure” than iMessage.
Zuckerberg, whose businesses are owned by Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, posted a photo of WhatsApp’s latest ad campaign on his Instagram page yesterday, claiming that WhatsApp is “far more private and secure” than iMessage
WHAT IS END-TO-END ENCRYPTION?
End-to-end encryption ensures that only the two participants in a chat can read messages and nobody in between – not even the company that owns the service.
End-to-end encryption is designed to prevent data from being read or secretly altered as it is transmitted between the two parties.
The cryptographic keys required to access the service are automatically provided only to the two people in each conversation.
In decrypted form, messages are accessible to third parties – making them interceptable for governments for law enforcement purposes.
Facebook’s own WhatsApp is already encrypted, and now Mark Zuckerberg wants to do the same with Facebook Messenger and Instagram Direct.
WhatsApp’s new ad looms over the entrance to Pennsylvania Station in New York.
It shows a green bubble and a blue bubble – like those seen in Apple’s iMessage app – over a WhatsApp speech bubble, dubbed the “private bubble.”
The slogan is simple: “Protect your personal messages across devices with end-to-end encryption. Messages always private.’
Zuckerberg posted a photo of the ad on his Instagram page last night.
“WhatsApp is much more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works on both iPhones and Android, including group chats,” he wrote.
“Whatsapp also lets you make all new chats disappear with the click of a button.
“And last year we also introduced end-to-end encrypted backups. iMessage doesn’t have any of that yet.”
End-to-end encryption is a method of secure communication that ensures that only you and the person you are communicating with can read or listen to what is being sent, and nobody in between.
The method was implemented for chats on WhatsApp in 2016 and added for backups last year as well.
While Apple’s iMessage app also uses end-to-end encryption, there is one important caveat.
If you have iCloud backup enabled on your device, the key to decrypting your messages is contained in the backup stored on Apple’s servers.
The rivalry between Meta and Apple goes both ways, with Apple CEO Tim Cook also taking public action against Zuckerberg’s company
This means that if Apple wanted to, it could read your backup, retrieve your key, and use it to decrypt your messages.
Zuckerberg’s post is likely a ploy to distract from this week’s news that Meta’s Metaverse is struggling to meet its goals.
Documents presented to the Wall Street Journal show that the company planned to reach 500,000 users of its virtual reality platform Horizon Worlds by the end of 2022.
However, the number is below 200,000 at the time of writing – still well below a revised target of 280,000 by the end of 2022.
The documents also show that the majority of those 200,000 users do not come back after entering the system once, with many complaining that most areas are devoid of other users.
Zuckerberg’s post is likely a ploy to distract from this week’s news that Meta’s Metaverse is struggling to meet its goals
The rivalry between Meta and Apple goes both ways, with Apple CEO Tim Cook also taking public action against Zuckerberg’s company.
Cook recently told Dutch publication Bright that most consumers can’t even define what the metaverse is and reject the idea that they’ll spend their entire lives in a virtual world.
“I always think it’s important for people to understand what something is,” he said. “And I’m not sure the average person can tell you what the metaverse is.”
Cook also expressed skepticism that people will want to spend longer periods of time in VR in the future.
‘[VR is] something to really immerse yourself in. And you can put that to good use. But I don’t think you want to live your whole life like that,” he told Bright.
“VR is for set periods of time, but not a way to communicate well.”
THE BEST WHATSAPP ALTERNATIVES
If you’re considering deleting WhatsApp, you’ll be pleased to know that there are several alternative apps to choose from:
1. Telegram
With more than 400 million users, Telegram is one of the most popular WhatsApp alternatives.
Although it looks very similar to WhatsApp, it differs in that it offers the ability to set messages to self-destruct after a certain amount of time without leaving any trace.
Telegram also offers end-to-end encryption.
However, as a WhatsApp spokesperson pointed out, Telegram “does not offer end-to-end encryption by default, so it’s not necessarily more secure than WhatsApp.”
2nd signal
Signal is one of the safest messaging apps thanks to the fact that it’s open source.
This means that the code for the app is publicly viewable, making it nearly impossible for the app’s developers to plant backdoors that could allow governments or hackers to spy on your messages.
3.iMessage
If you’re using an iPhone, you can easily switch to iMessage, Apple’s own messaging app.
The app has a number of impressive features, including no character limit, the ability to send pictures and videos, and of course Apple’s animated emoji feature, Animoji.
Unfortunately, iMessage is only available for iPhone users, so you’ll have trouble interacting with someone using an Android device.
4. Google News
Google’s answer to iMessage is Google Messages, an Android-only messaging service.
The app replaces your default SMS app and integrates with all of Google’s apps and services, making it easy to share pictures or use the Google Assistant.
5. Facebook Messenger
If you’ve put WhatsApp off because of data sharing with Facebook, Facebook Messenger might not be the best option for you.
However, the app offers a number of helpful features, including games, secret talks, and video calls.