Peter wrote:
I thought Whatsapp was for sending photos of one’s private parts to teenage girls
Yes, obviously and the pics are even better when taken in the “cockpit”…
Depending on the country WhatsApp has close to 100% of the population under 60. Germany is one of them, I believe in the UK Blackberry Messenger is more common? It has become my main tool to run my businesses, everybody 24/7 reachable and I can see that he/she has read my message, that’s the best of all.
I thought Whatsapp was for sending photos of one’s private parts to teenage girls
Uh oh – my mother uses Whatsapp. I sincerely hope she doesn’t send nude pictures to teenage boys…
Sounds like it can do SMS and web browsing.
No web browsing, but it has superseded SMS almost entirely in Germany. You don’t pay carrier charges and you have more options in terms of group chats, sending across media etc. and yes, knowing who has received and seen on screen your message…
In theory, Facebook Messenger can do the same and much better, but people seem to be apprehensive about it (although, of course, Whatsapp is a Facebook company now). Well, Facebook Messenger is server-based and all your messages are stored somewhere out of your control, while Whatsapp is client-based. There is no record of your messages when you switch the hardware. I doubt many people realize that, though.
Facebook Messenger does not work nearly as well as WhatsApp in the air. It is very sensitive to connection losses and initiates a lengthy reconnection procedure during which it is blocked. WhatsApp just keeps trying until it succeeds.
I think Peter had SnapChat in mind rather than Whatsapp. SnapChat deletes the image after a predetermined amount of time.
Whatapp is very good because it integrates nicely into the phone and most people are on it, and there are no costs for text messages/images/sounds domestic or international (other than a €1 annual charge). The one down side is that not everyone is on it, but there are very few people in my contacts that aren’t.
I thought Whatsapp was for sending photos of one’s private parts to teenage girls
Isn’t that SnapChat?
My wife and I use WhatsApp a lot. It is an IM system.
other than a €1 annual charge
I think that may depend on when you started using it. When I first started using WhatsApp it was entirely free. I am still using it and have never paid a dime.
No; I have heard of Snapchat.
Let me rephrase it.
Can Whatsapp send an sms to a cellular number? If not it is useless except for messaging other users of it, which is nobody I know under 20 
Anyway I am not interested in chatting with people on the ground while flying.
And how do I get tafs and metars through it?
I would think a private wx site could run an aggressive javascript to keep retrying. Or does it need an OS level driver to detect connectivity?
Can Whatsapp send an sms to a cellular number?
No, you can’t.
And how do I get tafs and metars through it?
Not a all. Whatsapp is not a web browser. I think it was brought into the thread to discuss connectivity – not getting METARS and TAFS!
Yes, I mentioned WhatsApp because it strikes me as a very well designed app that can live with the intermittent 3G/LTE service when airborne. Most apps are not designed with intermittent connectivity in mind.
WhatsApp prevents any sort of APIs, they refuse to open it for such automated services and insist it is a person-to-person messaging platform. Too bad actually.
Peter wrote:
Anyway I am not interested in chatting with people on the ground while flying.
Oh, a selfie from the cockpit with a message “Hey, what are you doing?” to the dork sitting in the office doing a boring job is one of the most enjoyable things
@Peter wrote:
If not it is useless except for messaging other users of it, which is nobody I know under 20
You’d be surprised actually. I don’t use it personally (because a combination of imessage and SMS works fine for me; though I have friends who swear by Facebook messenger) though I do have it installed. As already stated, it’s good because it’s free to use and it’s cross platform and includes Nokia and Windows.
When you first use it it will show you which of your contacts are also using it – for me it’s over 100. Still, as has now become clear from this thread, it’s only a messaging app and can’t be used to retrieve other stuff. Being able to two way message someone on the ground is a useful thing sometimes. I have replied a to a friend’s requests for weather reports and NOTAMS in the past. Add me and I’ll send you WX reports whenever you ask for them. You can send images with it too – bingo radar snapshots! Hey, if we had a EuroGA group then your chances of hitting someone who happened to be at a computer when the request comes in would be pretty high…
