Thoughts about my free iphone app - WhatsApp

hi there,

i hate shameless self promotion, but i couldn't resist posting here because i wrote this app with people like us in mind (those who travel a lot)

ever since i semi-retired a little over a year ago, i been traveling A LOT and i hated it when people tried to reach me when i am on the plane or out of the country. so i asked myself -- wouldn't it be cool if i just set a status for my iPhone, similar to how you can set a status on yahoo messenger or skype.

problem found - problem solved. so i spent a couple of months and developed a little tool called WhatsApp - it can let you set a status like "On the flight to munich, send email instead of calling me" or "In Japan for two weeks, my cell there is +81 829 282718"

our site with screenshots and faq is: http://www.whatsapp.com and direct itunes link is: http://itunes.com/app/whatsapp

i would like to hear your feedback and suggestions on the idea. hit or miss?

(of course app is useless 'til your contacts begin to use it also)

P.S. - i know a lot of you are BlackBerry users, and we are working on a BlackBerry version already (wish there was more hours in the day)

It appears that this requires the other party to also have the app installed, right?

hi there,

just wanted to mention that version for blackberry is available. you can see BB screenshots of the app in action here:

http://www.whatsapp.com/bb.html

and you can download the BB app from http://www.whatsapp.com/bb/

so i was looking on this forum for something else (trying to use my M&M miles) and remembered i posted this thread 4 years ago. i am thinking some of you might be using WhatsApp now

I'm actually using it with GoGo to talk to my friend in Tokyo right now. =)

The only thing I wish it did was let me use my ipad if I sync to a central account. When abroad I still want to use WhatsApp, but don't want to carry a phone with a mobile SIM and a phone for WhatsApp.

Ha! Who knew this app was created by an FTer. Love the app. Use it instead of texting. If there was a way to use this app via tablets and computers (think a platform independent iMessage equivalent) that would me great! Just a suggestion.

Why would you need to use miles? In sure you a can afford F class these days

LOL, luv whatsapp!
^^^

I remember you posted on Luxury4Play as well. Someone bumped your topic. Congrats on your new life

It's a big hit with my friends in Europe - Congrats.

I do use it as well, it seems to be quite popular with non-US mobile users as well given the lack of free, unlimited SMS in other parts of the world.

That said, I would say my biggest feedback item is that the UI is a bit busy. Don't get me wrong, functionally it is great and I like the fact that it uses your mobile number to locate you.

But if you could make the UI much more clean and modern, I think I would tend to use it more often. A simple background (white) with simple chat bubbles and less clutter in the message screen would make it much more visually appealing, IMVHO.

Call me an aesthete, but that's the only thing keeping me from using it more frequently.

But I definitely offer my congratulations on building such a popular and widely adopted app. It's not easy to get that level of adoption! ^^

I used WhatsApp as part of a group of guys in Vegas for a bachelor party. It was an awesome communications tool to keep track of everyone. My biggest problem was that it drained my battery (Galaxy S3) faster than any app I've ever used. Basically hit 0% after 11-ish hours of use.

Isn't this one of the apps that take all your contacts from your device and upload them to a remote server? Since I have many non-contact entries in my address book (e.g. a contact card with DOB's, passport numbers, etc.), I'm reluctant to use such an app since it would indiscriminately take all this personal information and store it on a remote server.

I stick with Skype b/c basically, by logging in with a distinct login/password (as opposed to a MS ID linked to my other MS programs and accounts) and saving only limited information in Skype's address book, I'm limited the amount of data Skype would have and could take and save.

I love, love, love this app, I'm in the US and use it almost daily to chat with friends in Asia.

Love whatsapp but wish I could use it on my WiFi-only devices and on my macbook like Viber.