· 1072 words · 6 minute read

Whatsapp ➡️ Threema

I’m moving away from American services in favor of European ones. Last week was a huge frenzy in which I tried out multiple non-American services. First step is Whatsapp, which I’m leaving for Threema.

I’m using Whatsapp for my communication with many people. Friends, family, old acquaintances. Plus, it’s used by businesses and the school my kids go to. There is no illusion from my side that I can convince all of them to switch to another app. Luckily, I don’t have to.

Most of my communication happens with a handful of people. I haven’t quantified this, but I think 5 people account for 80%+ of all messages. Especially my wife – our communication easily accounts for 50% of all messages.

Requirements and options #

I am looking for a WhatsApp-replacement that fits these basic requirements:

  • can reliably send and receive messages
  • has media sharing (photo and video)
  • has group chat
  • is available on Android and iOS
  • messages are sent encrypted
  • can make video calls
  • is made in Europe 🇪🇺

This limits my choices to: Threema (Swiss 🇨🇭), Wire (German 🇩🇪), Olvid (French 🇫🇷), Element (UK 🇬🇧) Session (Australian / Swiss 🇦🇺/🇨🇭). You’ll notice these are not European Union made, but Europe-as-a-continent. That’s a conscious decision, but I do prefer Europe/Swiss if possible.

After a quick initial selection round, both Olvid and Element fell off the boat. Olvid has a paid subscription of 6 euro per month to use video calling: I cannot convince anyone of paying that price, and there’s no point in having a messaging app if no-one else is on it. Element needs you to set up a Matrix server or find one that fits, it’s too much hassle.

Threema, Wire or Session? #

The remaining choices are Threema, Wire and Session.

In the app-stores only Threema gets a decent amount of stars:

  • Threema: 4,3 ⭐️: nice UI, but sometimes slow server and notifications. Calls don’t always ring.
  • Session: 3,4-3,7: slow network, notifications not always working
  • Wire: 3,0-3,4: slow in sending, unreliable in messages received, scammers

I decided to skip Wire based on the reviews, and focus on Threema and Session.

Threema #

Threema has a friendly and polished UI, and works great in messages and videocalling. Those are the absolute basics and they work very well.

Not so good is the onboarding setup. I have to do weird steps like ‘move my finger’ (I know why, I’ve generated RSA-keys in the past, but still), get a cryptic Threema-ID to share with friends [^I do not have to use the Threema-ID to connect to friends. I can also choose to send a hashed version of my address book to Threema. I did this for Meta (who I do not trust), but initially refused for Threema (who I trust more). Why? Because of the scary text that went beside it. After a week I did upload my (hashed) address book and found exactly 1 other person.], have to store passwords… None of that was necessary for Whatsapp

Because Threema prefers privacy over usability, the default-Apple-share-menu and ‘store photos in library’ have to be enabled manually.

Threema relies on in-person verification. That’s where the ‘Three’ in the name comes from: you can be unverified (one red ‘ball’), verified by email or phone (two ‘balls’) or verified by scanning QR-code (three ‘balls’). I get it. But the prominence in the app is a bit annoying. I’m testing it out with a friend who is 5-hours of flight away from me, he’ll have the “one red ball of shame” for a long time.

A lot of the in-app copy is techy: “perfect forward secrecy-session is reset”, and “action required: to avoid missing messages, please complete the update by opening the app”. I have no clue what this means and I do not want to know. Definitely can be more user-friendly by hiring a UX-copywriter.

I like that I can request Threema to send photos in ‘original resolution’, but this still compresses the images and video. I prefer it if my photos are sent (and received) as the original files. That is a privacy hassle for Threema, because of metadata like geolocation. But it would be hugely beneficial for me, as this is the main way I share photos with my wife. Still, Threema delivers a much higher quality than Whatsapp’s “HD”.

The major downside to Threema for adoption is the pricing: a one-time fee of 6 euro. That will be a tough sell for most of my contacts. On the other hand: I prefer to pay for my software instead of being sold myself.

Session #

Session has an even more tech-feel to it. It works on top of a distributed network, and that sometimes shows in the UI.

The onboarding was smoother than Threema. But the unique ID I get is more complicated, instead of Threema’s 8 random characters, I get a long hash-number. That’s just unacceptable.

As messages on Session are routed around a distributed network, they indicate ‘being sent’ much longer than Threema or Whatsapp. Furthermore, I’ve seen the messages ‘could not be sent’ a couple of times. This gets corrected, but it gives off an unreliable feel.

Just like Threema, Session compresses your media before sending it. I cannot adjust the compression, but it seems to be a higher quality than WhatsApps’ HD and lower than Threema’s highest setting.

Session has a bit more focus on in-app privacy. Its screen goes black as soon as you switch apps (like banking apps do) and it notifies people in the chat if you make screenshots. Both these features are irrelevant for me.

Functional differences between Threema and Session #

Both Threema and Session have the same basic functionality. At least the requirements I set in the beginning are all there.

The main differences from the point of view of user-functionality:

  • Session offers sending GIFs: I am going to miss this in Threema…
  • Threema offers sending location, although not with continuous updates: very useful, but I can use other apps for this as well

Video calling in Session is in ‘beta’. I couldn’t get it to work at first, and in other occasions it was buggy.

Video calling in Threema is as expected from a modern app. It just works.

Conclusion #

I have tried Threema now for over a week and did multiple video calls. So far so good. I also prefer Threema’s polished look over Session.

My wife and I are now exclusively “apping” in Threema.