It’s not “fanboyism”, I already wrote that SMS is horrible. And what makes you so sure that WhatsApp really is really properly encrypted and not doing some shenanigans? Proprietary apps can claim all kinds of things. So call me naive, but I’ll take minimal non-sensitive unencrypted SMS through a somewhat trustworthy service provider over basically spyware on my phone any day, although that may of course be because I live somewhere with relatively decent data protection laws (not that one should put too much trust in those either, but eh, still better than trusting fucking Meta imho).

People install all kinds of crap on their phones, but a single more private messenger is suddenly too much to ask for? Some people really are beyond saving… Though I can kinda relate, my brother is just as stubborn. Any way, I’d still advise to just quit WA and tell them you’ll only communicate through Signal (or SimpleX, Session, etc.) in the future, which should help as an incentive. If you’re willing to do that is of course up to yo

EVERYONE IN MY COUNTRY USES WHATSAPP, YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT WA HERE YK…

Same thing probably could have been said about my country (Germany) 10 years ago, and look where we’re at now.

I spontaneously deleted my WhatsApp account a few years ago and haven’t regretted it once. When people suddenly can’t contact you through WhatsApp anymore, they can still use SMS (which is horrible as well but still better than any services by Meta) or hopefully give in at some point and also use Signal.

Also, do those friends of yours know that you don’t have to immediately abandon WhatsApp to use Signal? Both can be used simultaneously, like many of my family and relatives do, and I see almost no logical reason to refuse that.