WhatsApp, Messenger, Signal and Telegram. Who wins the privacy contest?
Signal and Telegram are experiencing a boom in downloads, while WhatsApp's growth is in decline following the privacy update. But which app collects the most user data?
Download boom for Telegram and Signal encrypted messaging apps.
After the news of WhatsApp's change to its privacy terms starting February 8 , Telegram registered 25 million new users over 72 in the week.
Like Telegram, Signal is also seeing huge increases in downloads from Apple and Google's app stores. Instead, the growth of WhatsApp (owned by Facebook) is declining.
Although WhatsApp said its update "does not affect the privacy of your messages with friends or family in any way," adding that the policy changes were necessary to allow users to send messages to businesses on WhatsApp, the news shook. users.
But among the messaging apps, which is the most “hungry” for its users' data?
Last December, Apple released new app privacy nutrition labels in the iOS App Store, giving users a glimpse into how different apps accumulate data.
All the details.
DOWNLOADS FOR SIGNAL AND TELEGRAM ARE GROWING
Mobile app analytics company Sensor Tower said on Wednesday that Signal recorded 17.8 million app downloads on Apple and Google during the week of January 5 to January 12. That's a 61-fold increase from just 285,000 in the previous week. Telegram recorded 15.7 million downloads in the period from January 5 to January 12, about double the 7.6 million downloads in the previous week.
WhatsApp, meanwhile, saw downloads drop to 10.6 million, up from 12.7 million the week before.
WHO COLLECT MORE DATA BETWEEN WHATSAPP, MESSENGER (FACEBOOK), SIGNAL AND TELEGRAM
As shown by the privacy labels of the messaging apps on the App Store, both Facebook-owned apps (Messenger and WhatsApp) collect usage data and location details, unlike the other apps.
By contrast, Signal appears to be the most private messaging app and doesn't collect any user data, as per the privacy details highlighted on the App Store.
HOW MANY AND WHAT DATA THE MESSAGE APPS COLLECT
Facebook-owned messaging apps, such as Whatsapp and Messenger, appear to collect more data than rival apps , according to Apple's tagging standards. Signal, which is run by a privacy-focused non-profit organization, collects virtually no data from its users.
FACEBOOK APPS TAKE UP USER DATA
So when it comes to data collection, the messaging apps of the Facebook galaxy know no equal.
The details available on the App Store show that Facebook Messenger is the most acquisitive when it comes to collecting user data, followed by WhatsApp. The list of data collected by both apps includes users' purchase history, financial information, location details, contacts, phone number, email address, and usage data, among others.
BUT WHATSAPP IS STILL THE MOST POPULAR
However, talking about the escape from WhatsApp in favor of Signal and Telegram is premature.
WhatsApp is still by far the most popular messaging app of the three and so far there is no evidence of a mass exodus.
Sensor Tower estimates that Signal has been installed around 58.6 million times worldwide since 2014. Over the same period, Telegram has seen around 755.2 million installations. But there is no story. WhatsApp registered 5.6 billion, almost eight times more than Telegram.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/whatsapp-messenger-signal-e-telegram-chi-vince-la-gara-della-privacy/ on Sat, 16 Jan 2021 07:28:15 +0000.