FACEBOOK boss Mark Zuckerberg has launched an attack on Apple’s iMessage saying WhatsApp is better.
The tech billionaire, 38, slammed the iPhone maker as his WhatsApp platform goes on a huge advertising spree aimed at highlighting key security benefits.
Zuck posted a shot of one billboard on Facebook and Instagram, saying: “WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage.”
He points out that WhatsApp is safer for everyone because it doesn’t just end-to-end encrypt messages for iPhones.
End-to-end encryption makes it impossible for anyone to intercept your private texts.
iMessage offers this protection between Apple devices, but not if the receiver is using an Android phone.
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“WhatsApp is far more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works across both iPhones and Android, including group chats,” Zuck brags.
“With WhatsApp you can also set all new chats to disappear with the tap of a button.
“And last year we introduced end-to-end encrypted backups too. All of which iMessage still doesn’t have.”
His criticism comes as WhatsApp owner Meta took a bruising to the tune of $10billion, after Apple made sweeping changes to rules on privacy last year.
Facebook relies on advertising to make money, particularly targeted ads.
But the iOS move prompted more users to opt out of being tracked.
Apple recently updated iMessage as part of iOS 16, in a bid to take a slice of WhatsApp’s success.
One of the biggest arrivals is the ability to edit and unsend texts.
It means you can now instantly fix any typos, accidental messages or regrettable missives.
Editing texts after they’ve been sent is a rare feature – even WhatsApp doesn’t have it yet.
But WhatsApp has offered unsending – pulling a text back from a recipient’s phone – for a while now.
Not all iMessages can be tweaked or deleted: there’s a time limit.
You only have 15 minutes to make any changes to a text before the option runs out.
Simply hold down on the message to edit it.
Recipients will be alerted when a text has been edited.
However it won’t be possible to see exactly what changes have been made – unless you had previously seen the message and remembered what it said.
Also important is that both the sender and recipient will need to be on iOS 16 for the feature to work.
So even if you have iOS 16, you won’t be able to unsend or edit a text for a person who hasn’t yet upgraded.
You’ll receive a warning that some people won’t see your edits if this is the case.
For the feature to work, everyone needs to be running iOS 16.
Sadly, if you’re using WhatsApp then there’s no way to edit a text.
That said, WhatsApp regularly adds new features and is already testing a similar hack.
So you might not have to wait too long before you can edit WhatsApp texts too.
You can unsend an iMessage on iOS 16 within the first 15 minutes by holding down on the text.
But don’t think you can do it silently.
Just like on WhatsApp, if a text has been “unsent” then a note will appear for both the sender and recipient.
This will stop any confusion once a text has vanished.
On WhatsApp, it’s a very similar process.
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Simply hold down on the message and choose Delete For Everyone.
This option disappears after too much time has passed, so be quick.
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