WhatsApp is a very famous Messenger and is popular for its cross-platform messaging app on mobile. More than 250 million monthly users are using WhatsApp actively, which tells about their strong user base. But still it has some good competitors available who are willing to conquer the market.
WhatsApp has one great feature i.e. its integration takes place with your own phone address book and no need of logging in and out is there as you always stay connected. If any push notification is missed, you can save messages offline for retrieval later. Location sharing, custom wallpaper, contact sharing, custom notification sounds are the other features included in it.
Alternatives of WhatsApp
For people who can’t access WhatsApp or those who are in search of some new or other Messenger can opt for any of these alternatives.
WeChat
This is a very famous as well as widely known alternative of WhatsApp, for mobile texting and voice messaging. Free texting, broadcast messaging, voice messaging, location sharing, photo/video sharing are provided by WeChat. Data networks 2G, 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi support WeChat. Over 300 million users are already there with WeChat.
Options for live chatting, restoring chat history and backup are provided by WeChat. You can even invite a friend to a group on WeChat using the OR code.
LINE
This communication app is new in the market which allows instant messaging and is available for both PCs and smartphones across all platforms of operating systems such as Android, iOS, Nokia Asha, BlackBerry, Windows phone, Windows and Mac. You are allowed to send free messages and make free calls. 200 million users worldwide had been reached by Line till July 21,2013. It has been ranked the no. 1 in the category of free apps among 52 countries including Thailand, Japan, Spain, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Switzerland, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Macau and many more!
A few highlighted features are optional syncing of address book, multi-platform, confirmation of delivered and sent messages in real-time, sharing music, photos, videos, sending locations, sending emotions icons and stickers to friends, using NFC for adding friends by the means of shaking phone, group bulletin board for up to 100 people at one time, a pop-out message box so that the messages can be easily read and replied to, and many more!
BBM
Messenger for BlackBerry (BBM) provides instant messaging and video talk between users of BlackBerry 10 smartphones.
Some features that BBM offers to its users are sending and receiving unlimited messages, video chat using the mobile or Wi-Fi network on smartphones with BlackBerry 10, using a personal status and display picture for BBM, confirmation of delivered and read messages on real-time, scanning OR codes and adding contacts, sharing videos, photos etc with more than one contact at one time, It is free of cost to call the BBM users over the Wi-Fi network, sending music files, etc. For BBM enthusiasts a news that will make them happy is that soon, in next few months, BBM is going to be available for users of Android and iPhone as well.
Hike
Hike is an Android messaging app which allows you free chat with any hike user. 5 million user base has been recently crossed by it. Three new features have been added by hike such as walkie-talkie, adding stickers, messaging friends while they are offline and last seen.
As the days as passing the competition among such apps are growing more intense, what we are waiting for is to see who will take the position of no. 1 among the messaging apps. You might have used some of these apps, so we would request you to share your experience with us.