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Ever since WhatsApp made its new privacy policy mandatory for users, there’s been a beeline of users to rival platforms like Telegram and Signal. Signal has emerged as the top app on Apple App Store, followed by Telegram. According to Sensor Tower data, downloads of Signal have jumped 79% in India between January 1-6 2021 compared to December 26-31, 2020. Telegram too reportedly has seen a sizable jump. While users are moving on to rival services, wonder how many features of WhatsApp are there on these platforms? Here are 15 of the most-popular features of WhatsApp that users can find on WhatsApp.
115
Lock chats: Users can lock your chats with fingerprint, TouchID or FaceID
Just like WhatsApp, Signal also offers its users authentication support to keep their chats private. The app offers all kinds of lock features including pin, passphrase and biometric authentication (such as fingerprint, TouchID, or FaceID).
215
Disappearing messages
Signal allows users to send messages with an expiry date. The messages, from the chats that have this setting turned on, will disappear from users’ devices as per the expiry set. In Signal, the sender can set a time limit of anything between 5 seconds to one week. In WhatsApp messages disappear after 7 days, not earlier. In both the apps, the recipient of the message can take screenshot of the message.
315
Group support: Users can create groups
Signal also comes with support to interact with more than one person at a time using Groups. These groups also come with administrative controls such as approval for members joining, who can edit group info and more.
415
Calling support
Signal allows users to call their contacts. The feature works both on Android and iOS. Group calling is currently under beta testing on Signal.
515
Dark mode
Signal too has dark mode just like WhatsApp. This means that users get to choose from light and dark themes for the app.
615
End-to-end encryption
The biggest feature of WhatsApp, end-to-end encryption, is also there in Signal. This means that these messages can only be read by intended recipients.
715
Media sharing
Signal allows users to share media and documents with other users. It can be used to share media files including audio, GIFs, video and more.
815
Desktop support
Just like WhatsApp, Signal also allows users to access their account on desktop by scanning QR code.
915
Audio messages
Signal allows users to send audio messages.
1015
Pin or Unpin Chats
To keep important chats on the top, Signal lets its users pin chats on the message screen.
1115
Archiving or unarchiving chats
If users want to hide their chats from the main screen, they can archive chats.
1215
@ Mentions in Group Chats
Mentioning a group member to send him/her a notification too is there in Signal.
1315
Broadcast Media
Signal allows users to send media to multiple contacts at the same time in separate chats through broadcasting, same as WhatsApp.
1415
Forward messages
Just like WhatsApp, users can also forward messages/media on Signal.
1515
Read receipts and delivered signs
Signal too has read receipts and delivered signs like WhatsApp. Double tick on Signal denotes that the message was delivered and when the colour turns Grey, it means it has been read.
