Source: Luke Filipowicz / iMore
WhatsApp chief Will Cathcart told the Big Technology Podcast that Apple has a strategic interest in users not using WhatsApp because it doesn’t want people to use Android phones.
In an episode last week, Cathcart spoke with host Alex Kantrowitz about WhatsApp, its new privacy changes, and competition with Apple.
Cathcart commented on Apple’s new privacy nutrition labels that app developers now have to add to their apps to show users how their data is being used. When asked if the new tags were a “direct attack on Facebook,” Cathcart said, “from WhatsApp’s perspective we have been critical of the tags.” He said WhatsApp thought it was good for people to talk about the data they have and that WhatsApp itself took the data it uses very seriously, striving to collect a “minimum” amount of data it deems necessary to provide a great service at scale. . Noting that the information comes from the developers, rather than Apple, Cathcart said:
What I think has been unfortunate about Apple’s labels is that I think the way they designed them ended up being quite confusing. Partly because any application can put whatever it wants for labels.
Noting how people often compare WhatsApp to Telegram, Cathcart said that Telegram does not have end-to-end encryption by default, or at all for groups, but that while Telegram has the messages you send, and WhatsApp does not have your posts at all, there is no way of knowing how you would know this from the new tags. Cathcart also said that regardless of the purpose of the tags, WhatsApp competes with Apple in the US and abroad, but that no one can see the iMessage tag because it doesn’t download the app, it comes pre-installed on iOS. . It looked at Apple’s website listings for privacy regarding its own software, but again highlighted inconsistencies, such as how both Apple and WhatsApp can process payments through their platforms, but that WhatsApp lists payment information on its label while that Apple doesn’t.
You can send money to a friend through iMessage. Our label says we have payment information, iMessage does not, what is the difference?
Kantrowitz noted that Mark Zuckerberg has stated that Apple is Facebook’s biggest competitor in messaging, to which Cathcart said it was “obviously” in Apple’s interest for everyone to use an iPhone. Noting that in the US most people have an iPhone and that the messaging experience works better in iMessage “if everyone else has an iPhone”, and that in services like WhatsApp it was easier for people to switch between iPhone and Android. WhatsApps cross compatibility is one of the reasons why WhatsApp is favored by many outside of the US and why it is considered one of the best messaging apps for iPhone.
I use an Android. When people put me in their iMessage group it breaks, it’s a strange experience.
He continued:
I think it’s certainly in their strategic interest that people don’t use something like WhatsApp because they want people not to use an Android phone.
Cathcart also commented on how Apple’s iMessage works on special APIs in a way that other apps don’t, and that whether they intend or not, the changes they make affect the entire ecosystem.
Cathcart went on to discuss privacy, WhatsApp’s recent policy changes and content moderation, as well as advertising, and new laws in India. You can listen to it in its entirety here.
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