Has anyone heard of "WhatsApp"?

[mikefixac]

It's an app that's free first year, then $.99/year after. All the texts you want to send or receive, unlimited--FREE.

With my Verizon account, it was costing $10/mo for my texts, and I wasn't using it that much.

The way it works though is (I think) the person texting you has to use "WhatsApp" too.

[Hugh H]

Yep, use it all the time.

[Thegoblinchief]

Why not something totally free, like Hangouts? I assume WhatsThat still uses data of some form...

[arebelspy]

The app Facebook bought for 19 Billion (with a b) a few months ago?

Yup, heard of it.

[Daley]

All it is is a proprietary instant messenger service for phones. Plenty out there cheaper (as in completely free outside of data use) and some with far friendlier privacy policies like Kik, Viber, XMS, BBM, KakaoTalk, Nimbuzz, old standbys like AIM, Yahoo IM, Skype, the Jabber/XMPP protocol, Google Hangouts....

[johnintaiwan]

That has been huge here for the last few years. I know my wife uses it. It is still free for everyone over here. I have no experience with it myself. I still use an old nokia.

[Sonorous Epithet]

I use it to chat with a buddy of mine in Costa Rica. What's App has a strong network effect outside of the US. Messaging apps are useless if you have to convince everyone you'd talk to to get the app.

I do actually really like the interface. It is pretty and easy to use.

[MayDay]

I use it with my sister who lives in Mexico, and my brother when he is traveling internationally. Sure there are free ones but my sister uses what's app, and I don't want to slog through free ones and have to convince people to use them. At a dollar a year, this is low on my optimization list.

[SnackDog]

What planet are you on? Everyone has used it for years.

[Paul der Krake]

My mother (who is far from being a digital native) has been asking me to jump on the whatsapp bandwagon for months. She loves it because right now each of her 4 children, yours truly included, lives in a different country. If you are very spread out geographically it can make things a lot smoother than trying to remember who has cheap international texting and who hasn't.

[Silvie]

It's very popular in Europe. I've been using it for years and I don't know anyone who doesn't use it! It has completely replaced SMS.