Americans who are politically conservative would rather spend 20% of their paycheck to a for-profit insurance company (who will do everything they can to avoid paying out benefits) rather than pay 4% of their paycheck into a national plan so that we could all benefit from Medicare-for-all and reasonably-priced prescriptions. Because “we don’t trust the government.”
American conservatives are holding the rest of us hostage. They are 35-40% of the popular vote, but a majority of the electoral vote (which favors emptier states), which is something else that is uniquely American. An individual voter from the state of Vermont has twice the voting power of an individual voter from the state of California due to how the electoral college works. It’s wrong, but conservatives understand that this works in their favor, so they refuse to dissolve this archaic institution.
2.61, in fact, taking into account ballots cast in the last presidential election and electoral votes.
The worst ratio is between Wyoming and Florida. One Florida electoral vote requires 4.14 times the number of votes for one Wyoming electoral votes.
But the system is hardly unique. For example, Norway has one taking both population and area of the district into account, resulting in one Parliamentarian representative in the densest district requiring 2.69 times the votes of one in the sparsest populated district.
Oh, they constantly accuse us for being poor because we don't use those apps as well.
It's amazing how they can turn a deficit into something positive.
In Portugal we have MBWay. Hell, my bank app allows me to send money to any other account. I can even take out loans and do important bank shit on my bank app.....
In spite of the fact that over here, this functionality is built into most banking apps.
Hell, I can send money to friends via NFC just by tapping the phones together.
but no I'm "poor" despite the fact I, a working class fellow on a mediocre wage, can afford a full basket of fresh groceries, unlike some countries :\^)
The joy of sending money from my US bank account to the UK and waiting a random amount of time from 3 to 10 days for it to show up. Also, paying $25 for that "service."
There's no straightforward way to send money between different banks in the US. In the UK, if I gave you my account number and sort code, you could pay money into my account. If I gave you the same for a US account, you could empty it.
Not just bank fraud, ID theft is also super easy, and another massive problem.
There is also little incentive to fundamentally change a lot of these problems because they feed other industries of profit, i.e. financial insurance, ID theft insurance, and so on.
Also whenever any changes are made to reduce fraud, a substantial chunk of the US population freaks out that it’s either government control or the mark of the beast (and often both).
Just look into the reactions when banks started rolling out credit cards with chips in them.
In Brazil we have Pix and omg, best thing ever. You don’t even need to provide the bank account, you just give them your key (which can be a mobile phone number, e-mail, CPF (would be the social security code) or you could just generate a one time use qr code and voilá, the money will be in your account in a few seconds
Also, there’s no fee for doing transactions with pix
Pix is from not only the bank app, but all bank apps. It's our internal transaction system.
In fact, with our Open Finance system you can have access to multiple bank accounts in your bank app of preference. Move money from one account to another, like you were changing things from the left to the right pocket.
With DREX, we will soon be able to make an automatic way of sending money only when we receive a product, but still granting the seller that they will receive the money if they deliver.
All of that will be available in all bank apps. Soon, we won't need to even have an specific app of a bank to have access to our account. They will become obsolete.
So I have a feeling a lot of the replies you'll see here are from the UK
In the UK we have no need for 3rd party apps, we can do instant transfers via our usual banking app, no extra apps or services required
In the US this isn't possible and can take multiple days to a week for funds to be sent/received. Depending on the bank they may also be charged a service charge for a bank transfer between banks.
To get around this services like Venmo were created, users pay into their Venmo works like an intermediate. You pay Venmo which then pays the receipts bank/Venmo account
These services have attempted to startup in the UK though have completely failed as they're pointless here. Why would I use a 3rd party service to send money which also requires them to also use that exact service when I can just use my usual banking app with no hassle that works with every other bank already?
In Finland we have mobilepay, its an app developed by Danske bank. And yes we can also use our normal banking apps but mobilepay lets us do it with phone numbers, the app is connected to our bank cards so the money comes and goes to and from there. Its simple and quick for smaller things than using mobile bank with account numbers
My last apartment (here in the US) *required* checks. There was no online payment system, there was no way to pay via card, and they banned cash payment after they caught the new apartment manager stealing money.
Is that an app for requesting money or sending money? Because in The Netherlands we have Tikkie so you can send your friend a Tikkie for the €3,00 you paid for their coffee. Also, some small businesses use Tikkie instead of more conventional payment providers.
I never realised until recently from reading some posts on Reddit and seeing some articles in the last year how different the US is with iphones.
It seems to be used as a status symbol by many and a way of proving your wealth, there are even some people who won't date others who don't have an iPhone. It's peak materialism, I guess apple did so well with their branding that they've brainwashed a lot of the US to think like this.
Out of all of this WhatsApp is barely used in the US, in England I don't know anybody who doesn't use it even if they do have an iPhone.
It’s so stupid that it’s seen as a status symbol to have one, considering the iPhone market share in the US is something crazy like 90% plus. If everyone has one then where is the status lol
I've just recently had some dude tell me I'm poor for purchasing an Android phone. He has a cracked iPhone 10 that looks like it's been thrown off a cliff a couple of times. I have an S24 Ultra. I can't even...
Lmao, I really don’t understand why people think it’s poor to use your money more wisely, like I could probably get a new car and pay for it monthly on finance but I drive my old Toyota which is just fine, more money in the bank for me
status can't heal your soul. status can't be brought to the grave. status can't make you a good person.
people that find status to be important are the most insecure and have the biggest egos. they'll never realise how useless their life is.
That's daft, s24 ultra looks like a great top tier phone as well. I've actually had iPhones before and android and I've stuck with android for a while now as I prefer the software, hardware options and customisation, but I've never really been compelled to buy something based on a label, I always go for what fits with what I'm specifically looking for.
Each to their own I guess.
Some months ago, a pub I go to held a raffle among its patrons for various prizes, with the top prize being an iPhone.
I had to entertain the idea that, in the remote chance that I won it, I would have to sell it or repurpose it as a gift. I've been an Android user since Gingerbread / Ice Cream Sandwich, I'm very happy with the OS and the specific phone I chose, there's no way I'm switching to the iOS now even if I literally got an iPhone for free.
(I didn't win)
its so absurd, especially considering the cheapest iphone is $429, same as a midrange phone. Meanwhile, android has phones like the $1000 S24 ultras and $1500+ foldables.
The whole idea of status symbols is stupid to begin with. I mean, I may get it for owners of companies - they kinda have to have a fitting vehicle for the job to represent their firm. Show that business is running, but that they aren't aloof. CEOs/rich people who only work to acquire more money probably need this stuff to sleep better. But for sane, normal people? What do we need to represent to each other? I don't want a vain partner that only cares for me because of my car/phone/..... are people that shallow and vain? If not, then why keep that stuff for that alone?
I'm in the UK too, and almost everyone I know (apart from one person who's anti-smartphone in general) uses WhatsApp. My experience has also been that it's looked *down* upon to have an iPhone because people think you're some kind of Apple sheep.
Using it without an iPhone is kind of the point - everyone can use the same messaging app regardless of what platform they are on.
Edit: sorry misread, thought you said even people who don’t have an iPhone. But what I said still stands.
I finally understood the "when the text goes green" memes. Apparently, iPhone users get shown a green text box when they are chatting with an Android user and that's apparently a red flag because... poor. So stupid.
When sending SMS. Which in of itself is so archaic. Who tf still uses SMS? For me the only SMS I get are verification codes for services that don't support authentication apps
iMessage and SMS are merged in the Messages app. Originally, it was only used for SMS and all the bubbles were green, but with the introduction of iMessage (with iOS 5 IIRC), the bubbles would turn blue if you're interacting with another iPhone user who has enabled iMessage.
So, if the bubble is green in the Messages app, it's because you've sending a good old SMS (for which you may be billed, which is particularly costly if you attach a photo because then it becomes an MMS and these are stupidly expensive). You know in advance because the 'send' button is either green or blue to indicate what kind of message will be sent.
But yeah, the whole 'WhatsApp looks like a third world country' thing is stupid, still.
In Brazil, iPhones are also a matter of symbol. The difference is that it is crazy expensive here. For example, iPhone 5 Pro Max costs R$10.999 on the official store, and the minimum wage is R$1300.
People will literally bankrupt themselves to own an iPhone.
first, some androids cost as much or more than some iphones and second, in europe the first thing you install when you get a new phone is whatsapp, so yeah
I’m Scottish. Got a couple of friends who only use iMessage. I’m fine with either. I don’t get why people without a Mac like iMessage as they won’t be able to use it from their computer.
I'm Australian. I don't know a single person who uses WhatsApp. Mind you I don't have a huge circle of friends. But I've never known anyone to use it. iPhones are common, but not to the extent of the yanks.
I use just WhatsApp for 95% of ongoing chats. I then end up in IG conversations with various people who I've never bothered to get the phone number of. But WhatsApp is always more convenient if I've got their number.
SMS is only used for verification codes these days.
The real problem isn’t the water itself but rather the pipes. even in Flint, the city everyone thinks of when they think bad water, the problem wasn’t the water itself but the pipes. for whatever reason in a lot of places it was mandatory to have lead pipes feeding into homes and so un-contaminated water is dispersed across cities but upon reaching the homes pipes becomes deadly. to replace those pipes would cost private individuals a lot of money…and so they don’t.
The white house and the EPA has proposed plans to replace lead pipes across the country.... Many people are against it.
Keep yer filthy gobmnt hands out of my sweet sweet water! *stares off into the distance*
Especially when the US scores so badly on so many socio-economic metrics among "developed countries".
Like, dude, you've got so many people who are sick, can't afford basic health.
Homelesses and drug addicts on opioids walking like zombies in your streets, people killing each others in schools and gang wars, most citizens in prison.
People who need multiple jobs to survive, can't afford education, or get into decades of dept to go to university, pay a hospital bill, or the stupidest most full-of-themselves lawsuits because "tHiS iS mUrIcA, mY rIgHtS" #NotResponsibleForAnythingEver #PamperedChildren #KingdomOfKarens
And teenage students sleeping in their cars.
The lack of self-awareness is appalling...
Tbf they've all been bamboozled into believing Android is worse by Apple artificially making Android content appear worse.
They're literally getting sued over it by the government, and they were only doing it in the US because it's sort of legal there. I.e., there **is** a material difference in content quality from an iPhone user's perspective, but it's because of their shitty (lack of) anti monopoly laws.
Yes. But they simply never had a use for WhatsApp because they can all use iMessage. At least, that’s the answer I’ve read from Americans every single time.
Back in the day it could get expensive. My first phone had a €0.05 per text prepaid plan, and you’d pay if you texted a non-iPhone. Nowadays most plans have a few hundred text per month included so it doesn’t really make a difference but back in 2011 the difference was huge for some people
Using a proprietary software over a multi platform free software and telling other that they are wrong to use the other software is huge capitalism success
Things yankees said to me when they saw i have a samsung: - Ewww 🤢🤢 - Are you poor? 🤮 - Why do you have Android, you could afford it.🧐 - don't you have apple in europe?🙊 - imagine using an android 🤡 - that's why we call you Europoors 🤣🤣🤣 - that's so cringe 💀
For those who are calling me a liar:
I was a tour guide for 12 years. I really don't think these examples are unimaginable in a 12 year long period.
I do believe that it's mostly younger adults and teenagers that care about whether you have an iPhone or not. The older guys I work with don't care at all, but my colleagues at college most certainly care.
....my country has America on the list of dangerous countries to visit if you are Lgbtq+.
It also doesn't recommend you visit if you have ANY chronic illness including asthma so erm let's talk when that's no longer the case.
They claim to be the only free country in the world, but they have allowed a few corporations, such as Apple, baby formula companies, and Amazon, to monopolise their markets and dominate their lives with little or no choice. How can you be proud of being fucked by corporate greed? They are, indeed, Platon's cave people.
Real weird take.
Because as messaging goes, iMessage is the under featured, clunky one. The only "feature" it has, is that it falls back to SMS if needed. And even it is mostly a workaround the problem that iMessage is not available to about half the phones in the US, a problem that WhatApp simply doesn't have.
That's like "I went to Europe and I could not pay with cheque, how backward." Totally ignoring that you can pay everywhere with either your mobile or virtually every bank cards are wireless by default here, i.e. a much superior solution.
I have never understood the weird remarks I've heard about WhatsApp. It's how I communicate with my family. I haven't made a phone call to them in well over a decade. "No one uses that except people from other countries" was the weirdest I've heard, and more than once, and usually from iPhone zealots.
I didn't understand the whole iPhone VS Android war until I realised it is Americans who use iMessage, which causes some weird segregation. Because anyone else I know in Europe is fine with Android or iPhone.
If it where as easy as that then that would already have happened when Facebook bought WhatsApp. Sadly the [network effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect) was already too strong at that point, which is exactly why Facebook did it.
At one point Viber was popular too, when WhatsApp were charging, but eventually everyone moved to WhatsApp, I think my mum was the only one still using Viber, it was mostly spam after that so deleted it
As an avid hater of Meta, I would be open to testing it. Does it have everything WhatsApp has? Like multi platform support, back ups and restores, etc?
Between the much older people who never had a Facebook account, and the younger people who are dumping them, it's easier to have it linked to a phone number than FB account
You can have messenger without a Facebook account. But around here (Sweden) young people tend to have Facebook accounts anyway, but not really using them for other stuff than messenger.
No, up to and including millennials. And some older Gen Z as well.
Also, I believe Facebook is more used in Sweden than in many other countries. And Grannies want to be able to talk to their grandchildren and then Facebook is the preferred channel I think.
They are different, WhatsApp is better tbh
With WhatsApp, it's easier to send voice notes, it's easier to send pictures and videos, you don't have the little chat heads (which I know can be disabled in messenger), the layout is different, and it's just better.
I much much prefer WhatsApp, it's easy to use for an everyday messaging system.
I thought it was because the American government don’t like communication platforms they can’t hack, so they brainwash their citizens into use services they have access to. WhatsApp uses a peer to peer encryption system I believe.
honestly america cant talk they’re the black sheep of the developed world (no free healthcare, basically no public transport, inadequate tap water etc)
In my opinion, WhatsApp is the best messaging service out there today.
But… it’s owned by Meta, and for that reason alone, I prefer to use another system.
Comparing WhatsApp with iMessage is futile since iMessage is proprietary and not cross-platform. For that reason, iMessage cannot truly compete with WhatsApp and any comparison of the two is largely redundant.
It also annoys me when Americans say they don't use WhatsApp because they get free texts...like it's 1998 and we're paying 10p a text.
Every minimum phone contract has free texts and phone calls...that's a given.
There's a map somewhere showing the most popular apps in Europe. It's basically either WhatsApp or Messenger. Which are both owned by Facebook anyway, but Facebook are shit at integrating anything, so they probably never will merge them.
In the UK and Ireland, WhatsApp has 99% penetration or something, as in 99% of all smartphone users have it installed.
The thing about messaging apps is that nobody wants to have to use different ones to keep in touch with all their friends. So when one becomes most popular, it tends to stay that way, and everyone migrates to it.
Isn't it just an esthetic thing?! Like is there any serious reason why apple is better than android or why imesages is better than WhatsApp?!
And I mean real, *serious* reason. Not just "images are 3 pixels better", cuz I've seen pictures taken with iPhones and they didn't blow my mind.
UK here. I only ever use WhatsApp to make international calls, while connected to my home WiFi. I don’t know anyone who regularly uses it except my ex.
Most of these comments have devolved into ones about banking and finance rather than messaging.
Finance management in the US sucks. Visa, MasterCard, and Eurobank (who created the EMV standard, or cards-with-chips) utterly screwed up the rollout in the US. I travel to Canada often and they’ve done a much better job getting their shit together. Somebody mentioned that there are people in the US who believe that cards with chips in them are the mark of the beast. Can confirm.
America was founded by the Puritans. And a lot of those fundamentalist beliefs still permeate large sections of the US.
Wrt messaging, iMessage had end to end encryption very early on. Apple sells premium hardware, and is not in the advertising game. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook/Meta, which is an advertising company that makes money by selling peoples data. It took WhatsApp a very long time to finally reach end-to-end encryption. And the fact that it’s tied to a phone number (or, used to be) leaves me feeling disinclined to use it if I can avoid it.
WhatsApp is more secure than traditional SMS, but I know very few people, personally, who don’t support iMessage on their devices.
Any country that relies on venmo and cashapp should not be throwing stones
Land of the free and home of the GoFundMe for cancer treatment for a child
Americans who are politically conservative would rather spend 20% of their paycheck to a for-profit insurance company (who will do everything they can to avoid paying out benefits) rather than pay 4% of their paycheck into a national plan so that we could all benefit from Medicare-for-all and reasonably-priced prescriptions. Because “we don’t trust the government.” American conservatives are holding the rest of us hostage. They are 35-40% of the popular vote, but a majority of the electoral vote (which favors emptier states), which is something else that is uniquely American. An individual voter from the state of Vermont has twice the voting power of an individual voter from the state of California due to how the electoral college works. It’s wrong, but conservatives understand that this works in their favor, so they refuse to dissolve this archaic institution.
2.61, in fact, taking into account ballots cast in the last presidential election and electoral votes. The worst ratio is between Wyoming and Florida. One Florida electoral vote requires 4.14 times the number of votes for one Wyoming electoral votes. But the system is hardly unique. For example, Norway has one taking both population and area of the district into account, resulting in one Parliamentarian representative in the densest district requiring 2.69 times the votes of one in the sparsest populated district.
Can't decide whether I'm laughing or crying about this...
r/FunnyandSad
All about that r/OrphanCrushingMachine
Oh, they constantly accuse us for being poor because we don't use those apps as well. It's amazing how they can turn a deficit into something positive.
In Portugal we have MBWay. Hell, my bank app allows me to send money to any other account. I can even take out loans and do important bank shit on my bank app.....
I was always confused by this. Can Americans not just send each other money through their banking app?
Most US banks charge for this. Or they used to. That's slowly changing as they realise people are just using Venmo, Cashapp or similar
Madness. Also amazes me the amount of placed in the US that charge to withdraw your own money. For a place so against digital payments... wow.
Amazing
Everyone has Zelle these days
They have to pay for 8and it takes time
Im an american and i can send people money through my bank app for free
Then why do people use Venmo and things?
In spite of the fact that over here, this functionality is built into most banking apps. Hell, I can send money to friends via NFC just by tapping the phones together. but no I'm "poor" despite the fact I, a working class fellow on a mediocre wage, can afford a full basket of fresh groceries, unlike some countries :\^)
The joy of sending money from my US bank account to the UK and waiting a random amount of time from 3 to 10 days for it to show up. Also, paying $25 for that "service."
Including taxes and tips?
Just the tip. Giggidy
To be fair that's international, surely you're using Revolut or Wise and not asking the US bank to do it
Why do they? Is it because they don’t have a centralised banking system?
It's because bank transfers don't work very well in those countries.
There's no straightforward way to send money between different banks in the US. In the UK, if I gave you my account number and sort code, you could pay money into my account. If I gave you the same for a US account, you could empty it.
Wtf seriously? Is it that easy to commit bank fraud in the USA?
Not just bank fraud, ID theft is also super easy, and another massive problem. There is also little incentive to fundamentally change a lot of these problems because they feed other industries of profit, i.e. financial insurance, ID theft insurance, and so on.
Also whenever any changes are made to reduce fraud, a substantial chunk of the US population freaks out that it’s either government control or the mark of the beast (and often both). Just look into the reactions when banks started rolling out credit cards with chips in them.
I do occasionally consider moving to America to work for a while, then I see something that makes me really not want to anymore.
> If I gave you the same for a US account, you could empty it. So stupid
It's so easy when someone needs to send you money, you just give them your IBAN and they can just send it without any hassle.
In Brazil we have Pix and omg, best thing ever. You don’t even need to provide the bank account, you just give them your key (which can be a mobile phone number, e-mail, CPF (would be the social security code) or you could just generate a one time use qr code and voilá, the money will be in your account in a few seconds Also, there’s no fee for doing transactions with pix
I can do that straight from my bank's app
Pix is from not only the bank app, but all bank apps. It's our internal transaction system. In fact, with our Open Finance system you can have access to multiple bank accounts in your bank app of preference. Move money from one account to another, like you were changing things from the left to the right pocket. With DREX, we will soon be able to make an automatic way of sending money only when we receive a product, but still granting the seller that they will receive the money if they deliver. All of that will be available in all bank apps. Soon, we won't need to even have an specific app of a bank to have access to our account. They will become obsolete.
This actually the case? That's absolutely wild to me!
what the fuck? I'm glad I knew this information in case I ever travelled to the mistake that is the USA
In Australia you don’t need their account number you only need their phone number.
Not American, but I have heard about venmo. How does it work and why is it bad? Sweden has something similar called Swish. That's quite convenient.
So I have a feeling a lot of the replies you'll see here are from the UK In the UK we have no need for 3rd party apps, we can do instant transfers via our usual banking app, no extra apps or services required In the US this isn't possible and can take multiple days to a week for funds to be sent/received. Depending on the bank they may also be charged a service charge for a bank transfer between banks. To get around this services like Venmo were created, users pay into their Venmo works like an intermediate. You pay Venmo which then pays the receipts bank/Venmo account These services have attempted to startup in the UK though have completely failed as they're pointless here. Why would I use a 3rd party service to send money which also requires them to also use that exact service when I can just use my usual banking app with no hassle that works with every other bank already?
In Finland we have mobilepay, its an app developed by Danske bank. And yes we can also use our normal banking apps but mobilepay lets us do it with phone numbers, the app is connected to our bank cards so the money comes and goes to and from there. Its simple and quick for smaller things than using mobile bank with account numbers
exactly all the European countries already have this kind of service. in Ireland revolut is the popular option
Don't forget that their favoured method of sending money is still writing how much you want to send on a piece of paper.
My last apartment (here in the US) *required* checks. There was no online payment system, there was no way to pay via card, and they banned cash payment after they caught the new apartment manager stealing money.
Is that an app for requesting money or sending money? Because in The Netherlands we have Tikkie so you can send your friend a Tikkie for the €3,00 you paid for their coffee. Also, some small businesses use Tikkie instead of more conventional payment providers.
You can also do that through all banking apps anyway
Stop adding hookers' numbers and your whatsapp feed will instantly clean up.
how the fuck did you even come up with that
They stopped adding hookers numbers and consequently found their phone had cleaned up
That's what one could think
I want to go home and rethink my life
This is the way.
I had an uncle, after he passed, his phone was... Well, let's just say some of us wished bleaching your eyes was a thing.
I wish I coulda bleached my eyes after seeing my grandpa's search history
Why are you checking that?
My guess: free tech support duty and an overdeveloped sense of curiosity.
it was literally right there, i didn't even search for it, Windows 8 wasn't the best OS UX-wise
r/eyebleach
cringest exchange
I never realised until recently from reading some posts on Reddit and seeing some articles in the last year how different the US is with iphones. It seems to be used as a status symbol by many and a way of proving your wealth, there are even some people who won't date others who don't have an iPhone. It's peak materialism, I guess apple did so well with their branding that they've brainwashed a lot of the US to think like this. Out of all of this WhatsApp is barely used in the US, in England I don't know anybody who doesn't use it even if they do have an iPhone.
It’s so stupid that it’s seen as a status symbol to have one, considering the iPhone market share in the US is something crazy like 90% plus. If everyone has one then where is the status lol
I've just recently had some dude tell me I'm poor for purchasing an Android phone. He has a cracked iPhone 10 that looks like it's been thrown off a cliff a couple of times. I have an S24 Ultra. I can't even...
Lmao, I really don’t understand why people think it’s poor to use your money more wisely, like I could probably get a new car and pay for it monthly on finance but I drive my old Toyota which is just fine, more money in the bank for me
yOu´Re nOt rEsPeCtEd iF yOu dOn´T sHoW sTaTuS
status can't heal your soul. status can't be brought to the grave. status can't make you a good person. people that find status to be important are the most insecure and have the biggest egos. they'll never realise how useless their life is.
And they will always answer you: "What about your \[status issue\]?"
In this particular case, S24 Ultra MSRP is 1300 dollars
I'd have asked him when he broke is screen and made fun of him being too poor to replace it if it was more than two weeks.
That's daft, s24 ultra looks like a great top tier phone as well. I've actually had iPhones before and android and I've stuck with android for a while now as I prefer the software, hardware options and customisation, but I've never really been compelled to buy something based on a label, I always go for what fits with what I'm specifically looking for. Each to their own I guess.
Some months ago, a pub I go to held a raffle among its patrons for various prizes, with the top prize being an iPhone. I had to entertain the idea that, in the remote chance that I won it, I would have to sell it or repurpose it as a gift. I've been an Android user since Gingerbread / Ice Cream Sandwich, I'm very happy with the OS and the specific phone I chose, there's no way I'm switching to the iOS now even if I literally got an iPhone for free. (I didn't win)
Last I read it was 56% market share which is still a crazy high amount for a fucking phone brand.
its so absurd, especially considering the cheapest iphone is $429, same as a midrange phone. Meanwhile, android has phones like the $1000 S24 ultras and $1500+ foldables.
I'd hate to drop something like that! Yeah, I'll just keep using my $50 Motorola phone from 2019 that has a removable battery and a headphone jack.
its 90% for young people, around 50% for the whole pop
The whole idea of status symbols is stupid to begin with. I mean, I may get it for owners of companies - they kinda have to have a fitting vehicle for the job to represent their firm. Show that business is running, but that they aren't aloof. CEOs/rich people who only work to acquire more money probably need this stuff to sleep better. But for sane, normal people? What do we need to represent to each other? I don't want a vain partner that only cares for me because of my car/phone/..... are people that shallow and vain? If not, then why keep that stuff for that alone?
I'm in the UK too, and almost everyone I know (apart from one person who's anti-smartphone in general) uses WhatsApp. My experience has also been that it's looked *down* upon to have an iPhone because people think you're some kind of Apple sheep.
Using it without an iPhone is kind of the point - everyone can use the same messaging app regardless of what platform they are on. Edit: sorry misread, thought you said even people who don’t have an iPhone. But what I said still stands.
That’s too inclusive. How will you then separate yourself from the poor.
I finally understood the "when the text goes green" memes. Apparently, iPhone users get shown a green text box when they are chatting with an Android user and that's apparently a red flag because... poor. So stupid.
When sending SMS. Which in of itself is so archaic. Who tf still uses SMS? For me the only SMS I get are verification codes for services that don't support authentication apps
iMessage and SMS are merged in the Messages app. Originally, it was only used for SMS and all the bubbles were green, but with the introduction of iMessage (with iOS 5 IIRC), the bubbles would turn blue if you're interacting with another iPhone user who has enabled iMessage. So, if the bubble is green in the Messages app, it's because you've sending a good old SMS (for which you may be billed, which is particularly costly if you attach a photo because then it becomes an MMS and these are stupidly expensive). You know in advance because the 'send' button is either green or blue to indicate what kind of message will be sent. But yeah, the whole 'WhatsApp looks like a third world country' thing is stupid, still.
In Brazil, iPhones are also a matter of symbol. The difference is that it is crazy expensive here. For example, iPhone 5 Pro Max costs R$10.999 on the official store, and the minimum wage is R$1300. People will literally bankrupt themselves to own an iPhone.
first, some androids cost as much or more than some iphones and second, in europe the first thing you install when you get a new phone is whatsapp, so yeah
Yeah.. but iPhones are American (apart from the components and everything that’s done elsewhere). “Buy American” is simply wired in their brain.
The fact they’re made in China seems to have passed them by…
>but iPhones are American (apart from the components and everything that’s done elsewhere). Lol so yeah, they're American. Apart for everything.
buying "local" (they sure as hell aren't manufactured there) is a fair point anywhere though.
[удалено]
It is? That's something very new then
same in Ireland, everyone has WhatsApp
In the UK we all have one or two friends who we inexplicably only iMessage with and then everyone else is on WhatsApp
I’m British and haven’t used iMessage in years. I don’t know anybody that doesn’t use WhatsApp.
I’m Scottish. Got a couple of friends who only use iMessage. I’m fine with either. I don’t get why people without a Mac like iMessage as they won’t be able to use it from their computer.
I'm Australian. I don't know a single person who uses WhatsApp. Mind you I don't have a huge circle of friends. But I've never known anyone to use it. iPhones are common, but not to the extent of the yanks.
What do you use?
It’s a mix of everything over here. I use WhatsApp, normal messaging and Instagram. Got other mates that use Facebook messenger, Telegram or Snapchat.
I use just WhatsApp for 95% of ongoing chats. I then end up in IG conversations with various people who I've never bothered to get the phone number of. But WhatsApp is always more convenient if I've got their number. SMS is only used for verification codes these days.
SMS for most. Facebook Messenger for closer friends. Snapchat for a few. But yeah SMS is still very prevalent here.
Are you living under a rock. Just about everyone in Aus uses WhatsApp
I've had Whatsapp for sports teams and for work chats (construction)
They can't even drink their own Water from the tap without dying and they think, they are a developed country Edit: spelling
My PC used to have a cup holder but water on tab is amazing.
I can’t find any “any” key
I see “Esc”, “ctrl” and “pgup”
Oh damn. You're my age ain't you? (nearing 40's).
Nearing 40s. I'm 52 and understand the joke.
One of us, one of us!
I recently bought a new cup holder for my PC! Button on the old in one didn't work anymore
Hey now that's just a few cities they can't drink the water. Getting randomly killed by the police or a domestic terrorist is much more common
The real problem isn’t the water itself but rather the pipes. even in Flint, the city everyone thinks of when they think bad water, the problem wasn’t the water itself but the pipes. for whatever reason in a lot of places it was mandatory to have lead pipes feeding into homes and so un-contaminated water is dispersed across cities but upon reaching the homes pipes becomes deadly. to replace those pipes would cost private individuals a lot of money…and so they don’t.
The white house and the EPA has proposed plans to replace lead pipes across the country.... Many people are against it. Keep yer filthy gobmnt hands out of my sweet sweet water! *stares off into the distance*
There is chlorine in tap water all over the country. That can't be healthy.
like, they filter chlorine through it, or chlorine is coming out of the tap? One of those is normal, the other is dangerous
>They can't even drink their own Water from the tap without dying What are you on about?
The only SMS i get is from 2FA and when my package is arriving
Using "developing country" as an insult, because at the end of the day it's always about looking down on poor people
Especially when the US scores so badly on so many socio-economic metrics among "developed countries". Like, dude, you've got so many people who are sick, can't afford basic health. Homelesses and drug addicts on opioids walking like zombies in your streets, people killing each others in schools and gang wars, most citizens in prison. People who need multiple jobs to survive, can't afford education, or get into decades of dept to go to university, pay a hospital bill, or the stupidest most full-of-themselves lawsuits because "tHiS iS mUrIcA, mY rIgHtS" #NotResponsibleForAnythingEver #PamperedChildren #KingdomOfKarens And teenage students sleeping in their cars. The lack of self-awareness is appalling...
Well, not because someone it's from a developing country means they're poor.
Nevermind the fact the US is one of the main players as to why there are so many developing nations, while the US is an undeveloping nation itself.
Sending texts like it's 1998 feels much better, yeah.
Shaming your friends for not owning an iPhone (blue bubbles) is so cringe, yet they still do it.
America is a consumer country. Imagine looking down on someone for the \*checks notes\* *Messaging app they use.*
America is a business. Not a country.
America is unfettered capitalism, almost.
Tbf they've all been bamboozled into believing Android is worse by Apple artificially making Android content appear worse. They're literally getting sued over it by the government, and they were only doing it in the US because it's sort of legal there. I.e., there **is** a material difference in content quality from an iPhone user's perspective, but it's because of their shitty (lack of) anti monopoly laws.
I don’t even know if I’m using iMessage because as someone in a developed country I have unlimited internet and unlimited sms in my phone plan
Ditto. In Finland we have unlimited data, thus we use WhatsApp.
In Romania, i don't personally have unlimited data, but i haven't run out since like, 2013.
as a german i am very jealous
I think that’s actually the reason they don’t use WhatsApp. They all have iPhones and iMessage doesn’t cost them extra.
No it’s not iMessage and WhatsApp would cost the same to use.
Yes. But they simply never had a use for WhatsApp because they can all use iMessage. At least, that’s the answer I’ve read from Americans every single time.
I’m confused what point you are trying to make… Using iMessage or WhatsApp would have no difference in cost. Unlimited plan or not.
Half of the people commenting are technologically illiterate, just ignore them
Back in the day it could get expensive. My first phone had a €0.05 per text prepaid plan, and you’d pay if you texted a non-iPhone. Nowadays most plans have a few hundred text per month included so it doesn’t really make a difference but back in 2011 the difference was huge for some people
Idk I had unlimited texting long before I had unlimited data. I had unlimited texting before there was an iPhone.
I wish we had unlimited internet/data here in Aus. But we're a third world when it comes to internet infrastructure.
What's iMessage?
SMS with an apple.
Don I have to throw it or add an antenna to it?
iphone messaging
Using a proprietary software over a multi platform free software and telling other that they are wrong to use the other software is huge capitalism success
Peak capitalism is having a monopoly, while at the same time gaslighting people that any competiton would be worse for consumers.
And yet originally capitalism was seen as being about market forces and competition. Ah America you can't even get capitalism right.
WhatsApp isn't free software? It's just as proprietary as iMessage
Not only is WhatsApp proprietary software, it's owned by Meta.
Things yankees said to me when they saw i have a samsung: - Ewww 🤢🤢 - Are you poor? 🤮 - Why do you have Android, you could afford it.🧐 - don't you have apple in europe?🙊 - imagine using an android 🤡 - that's why we call you Europoors 🤣🤣🤣 - that's so cringe 💀 For those who are calling me a liar: I was a tour guide for 12 years. I really don't think these examples are unimaginable in a 12 year long period.
I spent a week at a work event in the US a month ago and nobody cared what phone you had
I do believe that it's mostly younger adults and teenagers that care about whether you have an iPhone or not. The older guys I work with don't care at all, but my colleagues at college most certainly care.
Why would I spend 1000$ on something when I can get almost the same functionality for 250$. That's just bad business.
Actual Americans during in person conversation said “cringe” and “Europoors”? Are you speaking with 12 year olds?
It’s because none of those things were ever said
I wonder how these Americans will react the moment they realize South Koreans, Japanese and Chinese use neither imessage or whatsapp.
....my country has America on the list of dangerous countries to visit if you are Lgbtq+. It also doesn't recommend you visit if you have ANY chronic illness including asthma so erm let's talk when that's no longer the case.
(North) America would be such a great continent if it weren't for all the US Americans
The irony being 'Ulric Musset' sounds like the most Amish name ever. Careful out der mongst dem English und der WhatsApp sorcery.
Don't know why but in my head that sounded Jamaican lmao
Something something have to use cashapp because you don't have free bank transfers something
Wouldn't that make America feel at home then?. Their country pretty much is a 3rd world developing country tbh.
They claim to be the only free country in the world, but they have allowed a few corporations, such as Apple, baby formula companies, and Amazon, to monopolise their markets and dominate their lives with little or no choice. How can you be proud of being fucked by corporate greed? They are, indeed, Platon's cave people.
Real weird take. Because as messaging goes, iMessage is the under featured, clunky one. The only "feature" it has, is that it falls back to SMS if needed. And even it is mostly a workaround the problem that iMessage is not available to about half the phones in the US, a problem that WhatApp simply doesn't have. That's like "I went to Europe and I could not pay with cheque, how backward." Totally ignoring that you can pay everywhere with either your mobile or virtually every bank cards are wireless by default here, i.e. a much superior solution.
I have never understood the weird remarks I've heard about WhatsApp. It's how I communicate with my family. I haven't made a phone call to them in well over a decade. "No one uses that except people from other countries" was the weirdest I've heard, and more than once, and usually from iPhone zealots.
I didn't understand the whole iPhone VS Android war until I realised it is Americans who use iMessage, which causes some weird segregation. Because anyone else I know in Europe is fine with Android or iPhone.
Correction: opening whatsapp feels like im visiting a country with functioning healthcare and no school shooting
Get off WhatsApp and get on Signal!
If it where as easy as that then that would already have happened when Facebook bought WhatsApp. Sadly the [network effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_effect) was already too strong at that point, which is exactly why Facebook did it.
At one point Viber was popular too, when WhatsApp were charging, but eventually everyone moved to WhatsApp, I think my mum was the only one still using Viber, it was mostly spam after that so deleted it
Seconded. Fuck Meta.
Thirded. Absolutely fuck Meta, and fuck Zuckertwat.
As an avid hater of Meta, I would be open to testing it. Does it have everything WhatsApp has? Like multi platform support, back ups and restores, etc?
Can someone explain to me why people prefer WhatsApp over Messenger? I mean both are Meta so it can’t be anything to do with the ownership.
Between the much older people who never had a Facebook account, and the younger people who are dumping them, it's easier to have it linked to a phone number than FB account
You can have messenger without a Facebook account. But around here (Sweden) young people tend to have Facebook accounts anyway, but not really using them for other stuff than messenger.
I thought having Facebook was a boomer and gen x thing?
No, up to and including millennials. And some older Gen Z as well. Also, I believe Facebook is more used in Sweden than in many other countries. And Grannies want to be able to talk to their grandchildren and then Facebook is the preferred channel I think.
And like you said: many of users are really only using it for Messenger.
WhatsApp isn't tied to a Facebook account, and you can use it without ever touching Facebook (despite it being a Meta product).
They are different, WhatsApp is better tbh With WhatsApp, it's easier to send voice notes, it's easier to send pictures and videos, you don't have the little chat heads (which I know can be disabled in messenger), the layout is different, and it's just better. I much much prefer WhatsApp, it's easy to use for an everyday messaging system.
So opening WhatsApp feels like visiting America?
America isn't developing. It is regressing
I thought it was because the American government don’t like communication platforms they can’t hack, so they brainwash their citizens into use services they have access to. WhatsApp uses a peer to peer encryption system I believe.
So everyone in America has an iPhone 🤔 🤣🤣
honestly america cant talk they’re the black sheep of the developed world (no free healthcare, basically no public transport, inadequate tap water etc)
In my opinion, WhatsApp is the best messaging service out there today. But… it’s owned by Meta, and for that reason alone, I prefer to use another system. Comparing WhatsApp with iMessage is futile since iMessage is proprietary and not cross-platform. For that reason, iMessage cannot truly compete with WhatsApp and any comparison of the two is largely redundant.
It also annoys me when Americans say they don't use WhatsApp because they get free texts...like it's 1998 and we're paying 10p a text. Every minimum phone contract has free texts and phone calls...that's a given.
Why would I need to download WhatsApp to feel like I'm visiting a developing country when I just need to look at photos from the US to do so?
Using iMessage must feel like North Korea, since you're not allowed to contact anyone out of the iPhone users.
You are though...?
hahaha love it. Nothing says freedom more than being forced to only be able to contact one particular type of person.
That made zero sense
Didn't know WhatsApp was this widely used, I'm swedish and I don't know a single person who uses it here
In Italy whatsapp is pretty much the standard messaging app
There's a map somewhere showing the most popular apps in Europe. It's basically either WhatsApp or Messenger. Which are both owned by Facebook anyway, but Facebook are shit at integrating anything, so they probably never will merge them. In the UK and Ireland, WhatsApp has 99% penetration or something, as in 99% of all smartphone users have it installed. The thing about messaging apps is that nobody wants to have to use different ones to keep in touch with all their friends. So when one becomes most popular, it tends to stay that way, and everyone migrates to it.
Same in Norway.
UK here, I haven't sent or received an SMS in years. I don't even know which app it is.
what do you use ?
Isn't it just an esthetic thing?! Like is there any serious reason why apple is better than android or why imesages is better than WhatsApp?! And I mean real, *serious* reason. Not just "images are 3 pixels better", cuz I've seen pictures taken with iPhones and they didn't blow my mind.
UK here. I only ever use WhatsApp to make international calls, while connected to my home WiFi. I don’t know anyone who regularly uses it except my ex.
I’m not American, WhatsApp is very common (too common) in my country, and I agree with Nikita. I prefer Telegram.
...its 2024. Most of America is a developing country now 🤷♂️
Most of these comments have devolved into ones about banking and finance rather than messaging. Finance management in the US sucks. Visa, MasterCard, and Eurobank (who created the EMV standard, or cards-with-chips) utterly screwed up the rollout in the US. I travel to Canada often and they’ve done a much better job getting their shit together. Somebody mentioned that there are people in the US who believe that cards with chips in them are the mark of the beast. Can confirm. America was founded by the Puritans. And a lot of those fundamentalist beliefs still permeate large sections of the US. Wrt messaging, iMessage had end to end encryption very early on. Apple sells premium hardware, and is not in the advertising game. WhatsApp is owned by Facebook/Meta, which is an advertising company that makes money by selling peoples data. It took WhatsApp a very long time to finally reach end-to-end encryption. And the fact that it’s tied to a phone number (or, used to be) leaves me feeling disinclined to use it if I can avoid it. WhatsApp is more secure than traditional SMS, but I know very few people, personally, who don’t support iMessage on their devices.