Is it time to leave WhatsApp – and is Signal the answer?

The Facebook-owned messaging service has been hit by a global backlash over privacy. Many users are migrating to Signal or Telegram. Should you join them?

Earlier this month, WhatsApp issued a new privacy policy along with an ultimatum: accept these new terms, or delete WhatsApp from your smartphone. But the new privacy policy wasn't particularly clear, and it was widely misinterpreted to mean WhatsApp would be sharing more sensitive personal data with its parent company Facebook. Unsurprisingly, it prompted a fierce backlash, with many users threatening to stop using the service.

WhatsApp soon issued a clarification, explaining that the new policy only affects the way users' accounts interact with businesses (ie not with their friends) and does not mandate any new data collection. The messaging app also delayed the introduction of the policy by three months. Crucially, WhatsApp said, the new policy doesn't affect the content of your chats, which remain protected by end-to-end encryption - the gold standard" of security that means no one can view the content of messages, even WhatsApp, Facebook, or the authorities.