People acting like a phone number isn't 100x more personally identifiable than email are delusional. I have like 700 unique emails atm, and can create a new one within seconds. I only have a few numbers.
In my country we're required to have our own identification tied to the number and we can only legally have a handful of number under a person name. Email is nothing lol.
The problem is that they're reaching for emails in addition to phone numbers. Don't think for a second they're going to let you login with just email. They want email just to have yet another data metric to profile you with.
I know Signal is technically better but Telegram provides a much better user experience than Signal or WhatsApp and is also less problematic than WhatsApp.
Telegram is a decent middle ground. UI/UX matters, I'm not sure how the folks at Signal are completely missing that point.
The Signal UI is OK, as a competitor to SMS. But it's terrible compared to Telegram. This matters to non-technical people, it's how you get them to use it. Plus the seamless connection between devices - that's crucial. I can chat using whatever device is in front of me.
You need to explicate the hell out of this cuz I vehemently disagree and point out, in terms of user experience its dogshit for me (but also implicitly that Telegram is conveniently insecure by default and even if you "encrypt", ifs a non-documented public slop version of messaging encryption [novel + security by obscurity]
Consequently, I would never be comfortable trusting it
This sounds like what Element has been doing for years already. You can sign up with an email and optionally link a phone number to your account. When WhatsApp does it though, it's newsworthy.
In the realm of "business WhatsApp Web," this advancement could signal a heightened focus on providing secure and reliable communication tools for enterprises. Businesses often leverage WhatsApp Web for efficient communication, and the introduction of email verification could be a proactive measure to address the unique security needs of corporate users.
Never met an it-pro using that thing. And beside some boomers and younger technically challenged, i have never seen one using it.
To each his own. People actually use facebook too. Or even twi... Errr. X.