Category Archives: SOFTWARE

Now that instant messaging has become an important part of many people’s lives, a vital question arises—what is the best messaging app? Is it WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber or something else, such as Facebook Messenger, or is there no difference between these popular solutions?

The tech media do not seem to provide any answers to these questions because they seem to be just as divided as everybody else. Therefore we’ll take a look at the arguments for all the apps and let you make up your mind.

To achieve this, we’ll present the case for and against each of these apps. The arguments for each of the solutions are strong but so are the arguments against them.

The Case for WhatsApp

Since WhatsApp is the best known and most popular instant messaging solution, the case for it is strong. The arguments on behalf of WhatsApp include:

• It is the world’s most used instant messaging solution, with 700 million users, according to Statista. That means most smartphone users are familiar with it. There is a strong possibility that the people in your address book are already using WhatsApp and can be quickly contacted with it.

• WhatsApp can do far more than messages. You can make phone calls, send videos and send pictures for free using it.

• WhatsApp is a fairly small app. It only takes up 21.5 megabytes of data. That means it takes up less of your data plan and may not increase your phone bill.

• WhatsApp can be used on laptops, tablets, and desktop computers by taking advantage of WhatsApp Web.

• WhatsApp is available for a wide variety of platforms, including Android, Windows Phone, iPhone, Blackberry, and Nokia S40 and S60 devices.

• WhatsApp is a totally ad-free solution.

The Case Against WhatsApp

There are some drawbacks to WhatsApp that many people are not aware of, including:

• The only Apple devices that WhatsApp can be used on are iPhones with iOS 4.3 and above. If you want to use it on an iPod or an iPad, you will have to use a jailbroken device on which restrictions have been removed. This means it might not operate correctly on such a device. You can use WhatsApp Web on Apple tablets.

• The amount of technical support available for WhatsApp is very limited, Hokiat reported. If it is not working, you could be left on your own or asking a tech savvy friend for help.

• WhatsApp is a paid app. You have to pay a onetime fee of 99¢ to set it up and 99¢ a year to use it.

• WhatsApp can use up a lot of digital bandwidth, so it can raise your phone bill by eating up your data plan.

• Since WhatsApp is an Internet-based solution, you will need a good cellphone signal or a Wi-Fi connection to use it.

• It does not always support voice calls.

The Case for Viber

Even though it is not as popular as WhatsApp, Viber is more flexible and more popular in some quarters.

• Viber is only one of the big three messaging apps that work on Samsung’s proprietary Bada operating system. That means little because most Samsung devices use Android instead; Samsung recently abandoned Bada and started developing a new system called Tizen.

• Like WhatsApp, Viber can be used on desktops using Viber Desktop.

• Viber is a completely free app, unlike WhatsApp.

• Like WhatsApp, Viber is a completely advertising-free solution.

• Viber has a very high customer user rating in the App store and Google Play, 4.4 and 4.5, versus.com reported, meaning that customers really like it.

• Viber supports a wide variety of languages.

• Viber lets you receive messages when you are offline.

• Viber has a built-in translator.

• Viber is one of the smallest messaging maps, meaning it takes up less bandwidth. It is only 19 megabytes in size, while WhatsApp is 21 megabytes in size.

• It does support voice calls, including calls to phones.

The Case Against Viber

Even though the geeks seem to like it, there are some reasons to avoid Viber, including:

• Viber is not as widely used as either WeChat or WhatsApp; it only has 236 million users worldwide, according to Statista. That means contacts are less likely to be in your address book.

• It has no built-in games.

• It cannot send music files.

• There is no message seen notification.

• Hogkiat reports that Viber does share some information with Google, which makes your phone easier to track.

The Case for WeChat

After WhatsApp, WeChat is probably the most popular standalone instant messaging app around. Some arguments for it include:

• It is very popular. Statisa estimated that WeChat had 500 million users compared to Viber’s 236 million users. That means your contacts are more likely to be using it.

• It is very versatile; it lets you switch off notifications.

• WeChat lets you see when somebody else is typing.

• WeChat lets you share music files with your friends.

• It can be personalized.

• WeChat has built-in games.

• Web Chat lets you use WeChat on desktop browsers.

• We Grab feature lets you send webpages from your browser to your phone.

• WeChat is available for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, and Nokia devices.

• WeChat is a completely free app.

• Since it is not connected to your phone number, WeChat can be used on tablets and similar devices.

• WeChat has quite a few social add-ons that are not available on WhatsApp and Viber.

• It will support direct voice calls.

• Observers note that you can have more fun on WeChat because of everything that people can do on it.

The Case Against WeChat

• WeChat is not connected to your phone number, so instant messages cannot be sent directly to your phone.

• WeChat is a fairly large app that takes up a lot of bandwidth, 34.5 megabytes compared to WhatsApp, which is only 21.9 megabytes. That means it can use your entire data plan and raise your phone bill. It also means it will not always work.

• It does not allow group chat like WhatsApp does.

• Since it is not connected to your phone, many contacts may not be in your address book.

Which Messaging App Is Best?

The bottom line is that all three apps can meet the average person’s needs. If you just want to send messages, WhatsApp is probably the best, but WeChat is a little better if you want to use your phone as a social media device.

Jailbreaking an iPhone is one of the toughest chores that users of solutions such as WhatsApp face. For those of you not down with geek speak, to jailbreak means to remove safeguards from a phone that prevent the installation of solutions such as WhatsApp .

Well, now there is a handy solution that makes jailbreaking a smartphone faster and easier than ever before. It is Couria, a jailbreak tweak that makes installing WhatsApp far easier than ever before.

Why You Might Need to Jailbreak Your iPhone

An iPhone has to be jailbroken because it uses a closed operating system, Apple’s iOS. Unlike Google’s Android, iOS is a closed operating system, which means that only solutions made by Apple or approved by Apple can be installed upon it. Apple does not make the software that would allow anybody to write an app for its system available to most developers.

A jailbreak tweak is a solution that is designed to open up iOS to allow you to install non-Apple solutions on your phone, hence the slang term “jailbreak.” Before such tweaks were made available, you had to locate an expert or spend a lot of time and effort to jailbreak an iPhone.

Once you install Couria, you should be able to quickly reply to a message no matter what you are doing on your phone. For example, you could reply to your spouse’s message about the shopping list without interrupting the video you are watching.

Couria allows you to jailbreak an iPhone and install WhatsApp on it fairly quickly and easily because it does all the work for you. Not everybody likes jailbreaking a smartphone or approves of it, but Couria makes the job a lot easier.

How Couria Makes WhatsApp Better

Couria can make WhatsApp work a lot faster by helping you reply to your messages quickly. All you need to do to reply once you install Couria is to tap on the banner notification or swipe the messages displayed on the lock screen.

Couria works well with WhatsApp because it was specifically designed for SMS messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Tweetbot. It was designed to help such apps run faster on iPhones.

Among other things, Couria lets you reply to messages while the device is locked and gives you the ability to reply to select messages faster. For example, you can instantly reply to those individuals that you might really want to chat with, such as your mother, your boss, or spouse, and ignore people like salesmen.

Couria also offers an added layer of security in the form of a passcode for iOS. That can help you reply faster without sacrificing security.

Where to Find Couria

Couria can be a bit hard to find, especially for those unfamiliar with it. Currently, it is only available through Cydia, which is a sort of forum for Tweak developers. You can find the version for iOS 8 here .

Websites like idownload.blog can keep you apprised of new versions of Couria and show you where to find it for older iPhones. These sites can also provide instructions and even YouTube videos that can help you install Couria.

It is best to get the version from Cydia because that appears to be the only place where developer Bang Lee appears to have made it available. Unfortunately, you cannot find it at the App Store yet. Actually, it is doubtful Apple would ever allow something like Couria to be made available through the App Store.

How to Install Couria and WhatsApp for Couria

Installing Couria and WhatsApp for Couria is easier than you might think. First you will need to go to Cydia and download the version for your phone. We would also recommend that you read some of the articles about it on iDownload.blog and watch the videos there to increase your knowledge before you start.

The first and most important step in installing Couria is to simply download it. You will need to set it up through the Activator. Follow the instructions carefully, or you will not be able to get it going.

Another fast way to load Courier is to go to Manage>Sources>Edit>Add in your phone’s control panel and add this HTML: http://Cydia.Qusic.me . This will add Curia directly to your phone’s operating system.

Once it is completely set up, you should be able to see some other solutions, including a WhatsApp Extension and Tweetbot, a similar extension for Twitter. The WhatsApp Extension will allow you to access WhatsApp through Couria.

As you can see above, you will have to enable Couria and decide whether you want to require authentication. Authentication required is the security feature that makes it harder for others to access your messages if they get your phone.

Why You Might Need Couria for WhatsApp

The major reason why a lot of knowledgeable iPhone users are adding Couria is that it is far easier to use than some of the older and more established jailbreak apps out there. The bloggers indicate that it can be installed faster and provide a quicker message response and notification.

That being said, Couria is not for everybody. If you do not send that many messages, you probably will not need it. Those that do not send complex messages such as videos and audios might not need it either.

On the other hand, people that travel a lot may need Couria because it allows a seamless connection to WhatsApp. Since WhatsApp is a cross-platform messaging solution, it can be used almost anywhere. Many people use WhatsApp because it is a cheaper alternative to the messaging solutions offered by phone companies.

You might also need Couria if you are having a hard time getting WhatsApp to work on your iPhone. Unfortunately, WhatsApp was designed primarily for Android phones. That means it is very easy to install on devices such as the Samsung Galaxy.

If you really want to add WhatsApp to your iPhone, you should definitely look into Couria. It is one of the best jailbreaking tweaks that we have seen yet, largely because it actually works and it is fairly easy to use.

Even though WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging solutions around, it is far from the most secure. Recent news stories indicate that WhatsApp has become a popular target for all manner of cyber predators, including data thieves, hackers, blackmailers, and fraudsters.

Not surprisingly, a lot of users would like to know how to make WhatsApp more secure. In particular, they would like to know how to encrypt the messaging solution to keep unwanted visitors from getting access to their data.

Fortunately, WhatsApp Inc. and its parent Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) have responded to this problem by implementing end to end encryption with the help of a software called TextSecure in November 2014. End to end encryption means that all WhatsApp messages have at least some security protection.

How End to End Encryption Works

The new security measures mean that all WhatsApp messages are encrypted. Basically, the message is encrypted on your phone when you send it and decrypted by the recipient’s device.

The use of TextSecure actually makes WhatsApp more secure than Apple’s iMessage, Wired reported. Unfortunately, news reports indicate that end to end encryption for WhatsApp is not yet available on the iPhone; instead, it is currently only available on Android phones. The media did not say whether it is available for Windows phones either.

Messaging systems that utilize end to end encryption are harder to break because the data need to decrypt the messages is only found on users phones, The Guardian reported. That information is also stored on WhatsApp and Facebook’s servers, so it could presumably be stolen by hackers.

The good news is that end to end encryption is free for all WhatsApp users and is automatically turned on whenever you use WhatsApp over an Android device or the Google Chrome browser. That means average people do not need to take extra measures to utilize it.

Some Governments Hate WhatsApp

Even though it is free and impressive, the end to end encryption on WhatsApp is far from perfect. Since WhatsApp is utilized by several hundred million users worldwide, it is targeted by everybody from individual hackers to intelligence agencies. .

The encryption is controversial; there are even news reports from the United Kingdom that indicate Prime Minister David Cameron would like to ban all encrypted messaging apps. Law enforcement and spy agencies hate end to end encryption because it allows criminals and terrorists to send messages they cannot intercept.

Fortunately for British subjects, the laws of the European Union make it illegal for governments to ban encryption. Both the European Convention on human rights and the United States Constitution guarantee an individual’s right to privacy, which makes it illegal for the government to ban encryption.

One reason why Cameron wants to ban WhatsApp is the high level of encryption, which makes it very hard for British police to crack messages. The service has a high level of security because one of its founders, Jan Koum, grew up in the Soviet Union, where Communist secret police spied on everybody. When he set up a messaging system, Koum wanted to try to help maintain privacy.

WhatsApp Security Flaws

There are some real and potential security flaws to WhatsApp. A big one is that malware downloaded to your phone can get access to your encryption. Malware can get access to your messages and other data and send them to the bad guys.

Many hackers use phishing scams, which try to entice users to open Trojan messages that contain malware or malicious links. Popular variations of this tactic include messages that claim to offer you a job or ask you to claim your prize. Others might be from somebody that claims to be romantically interested in you.

There are also some that even claim to be from a friend. If a hacker cracks somebody else’s phone, he can get access to that person’s contacts and send all of them phishing messages. The messages will appear to come from a friend, coworker, relative, or loved one and might even mimic that person’s writing style.

WhatsApp Web, which allows people to access their messages via computers, may not be as secure as WhatsApp over the phones. The Telegraph reported that it is fairly easy for hackers to insert malicious code into WhatsApp Web if they can learn somebody’s phone number.

Some of the code included ransomware, which takes over your computer and forces you to pay money in order to access your own data. The ransomware was sent out via a vCard.

WhatsApp has offered an update to WhatsApp Web that can help block this malicious code. Users can get it by simply downloading and adopting the latest version of WhatsApp Web.

This means that it might be a good idea for WhatsApp Users not to access via desktop or laptop computers with WhatsApp Web. It might not be as secure as the regular service is.

Additional WhatsApp Encryption and Security

News stories indicate that there could be other security flaws to WhatsApp, so users may need to take some other precautions.

You can add an additional level of encryption to WhatsApp by adopting one of the many free message encryption apps available from Google Play. The best include TextSecure Private, VIPole Secure, Vault-Hide SMS, Seecrypt, LOXApp Lock, and Open Keychain. Some of these may also be available at the App Store and the Windows Store as well.

It would also be a good idea to add a smartphone security and antivirus app to your phone. There are many excellent free security apps for Android phones available at Google Play, including McAfee, Smartphone Security from DreamWeb, Trustgo Team, Antivirus, and Lookout Security, Avira, and Antivirus. The best are apparently CM Security Antivirus, Area Smartphone from Smart Ester World, and Kasperky Internet from Kasperky Lab.

Running two or more different security applications can provide an added layer of protection. You should download a security app and try to run it on a regular basis, usually once a week, because you never know when malware is on your phone. Something to remember is that malware is targeting your phone and your WhatsApp right now and will keep trying until it gets in. Hackers never give up and never should you.