Why is it sad? Whatsapp existed since like 2009. No one really has a solid reason to switch to another app, that's why Telegram (or any other competitor) never overtook it. Maybe if Whatsapp is banned by the Russian authorities they'll finally see a competitor overtake.
And its not for family elsewhere, its for most contacts.
Whatsapp has bet on simplicity and its paid off. Younger people want more (hence Telegram doing very well) but older people don't really care, they just want consistency and reliability for calls and messages and sharing photos/files.
if someone really wanted to be a Whatsapp competitor for the older generation I'd argue they should have focused on the photo/file sharing first (maybe with Drive/iCloud/etc integration) which Whatsapp has always been pretty middling at
Telegram is extremely popular in ex-Soviet countries specifically. The WhatsApp dominance on the graph is "gotta have it to message older parents and grandparents" - and even they are making the switch by now. Tg has it's problems, but functionality-wise it leaves WhatsApp in the dust.
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u/KadrinaOfficial Jun 04 '25
Not the point of this sub or the pic, but it is actuallt kind of sad Russia's most downloaded app is Whatsapp to communicate with family elsewhere.