Why Americans don't use WhatsApp (and why that's a Problem)

Around 58 million people in my home country Germany use the messenger WhatsApp. The app has replaced what once used to be the SMS text message: almost everyone who owns a smartphone can also be reached via the WhatsApp messenger. But in the USA things are different: Meta's app never really caught on here - even though it was an American invention. And this development also brings some problems with it.

A film by Matthias Schwarzer.

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Sources for the video:

Official WhatsApp user numbers Germany (2019, German):

Current SMS usage figures in Germany (Federal Network Agency, German):

Overview of SMS usage figures in Germany:

Current SMS usage numbers in the US:

Overview of SMS usage figures in the USA:

"Americans can't quit SMS" ("New York Times"):

The "Wall Street Journal" on the blue bubble problem:

"The New York Times". on the blue bubble problem:

ABC about the blue bubble problem:

Why Americans Don't Use WhatsApp ("New York Times"):

YouTuber Marques Brownlee on the blue bubble problem:

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Intro song:
MÆT - Start Again

Music:
Epidemic sound

#whatsapp #meta #iphone #android #ios

[MatthiasSchwarzerEnglish]

Thanks for watching! Here's more you might like:

[TheGamingReaper]

Imagine being so shallow that you're willing to unfriend or stop dating someone based on what smart phone they have.

[forzatoro]

On the other hand, who really wants to hang out or date people that discriminate others based on having or not an iPhone? :)

[lidewijvos]

I'm pretty sure the 25% in the US that use WhatsApp are immigrants or people that have family and friends outside of the US 😂

[harrietdrums]

So weird that android as a reputation of being a "poor person" OS despite flagship Samsungs etc. being just as expensive as iPhones. My friends are all stuck in the apple ecosystem meanwhile I'm out here with my free Spotify premium, free YouTube premium, emulating games, installing apps outside the store, having expandable storage, and a better camera, despite my phone costing about half of what they paid for theirs. I really do not get the appeal of paying more for a less functional product and then having a superiority complex about it. It's just tribalism, pure and simple.

[HippoOnABicycle]

I live in Europe and iphone uses here simply accept that they have to have Whatsapp and maybe 1-2 other messaging apps on their phone, because they know most people don't have iphones, and Android users don't like regular SMS. Iphone users here can't get away with being discriminatory against Android users, because they'd have to lose touch with like 70% of their friends and family.

[EddyGraphic]

WhatsApp is also the number 1 messaging app in all of Latin America, it’s pretty much the default app, even businesses use it.

[sallyanon]

It's awful that young people "bully " each other over what kind of phone you have, but it's even more sad that people feel ostracized over what phone you have. There are FAR LARGER issues to be concerned about

[mystery]

I’m in the US, nobody over 30 generally gives a crap about chat bubble colors.

[TheLuizSouza]

Down here in Brazil, that blue bubble-green bubble stuff was never a thing. Even if you have an iPhone, you're just expected to have WhatsApp on your phone if you want to talk to anyone. People would look at you really strange if you only used iMessage, even if those people also have iPhones. It's just a more confusing "app".

[Hal]

I didn't know any of this. Thank you, Matthias. I'm American and ive always had an Android phone. I didn't want to be an Apple conformist. I've never had anyone mention my green bubbles. Maybe that's because I'm over 60.

[gurriato]

I find it hilarious that Apple users could ever consider themselves to be in any position to bully anyone when they are the perennial butt of the joke.

[leontin.munteanu]

As an European I see it this way :
1) Americans don't travel so much abroad, so they do not need to spend a lot on international phonecalls.
2) Market behaviour: They tend to use the default app for anything they do. Like : the default browser, the default mapping service, and so on.
3) Unlimited text messages even for the cheapest plans. They basically send short messages.
4) iPhone marketshare. In the USA, iPhone is over 60% meanwhile in Europe is 25%. That means that features like iMessage and Facetime, sending large files, reactions, read receipts are allready built in to the phone. And since 6 of 10 smartphones in USA are iPhones, it is easy to reach someone.

In other words if an American goes to Europe, and meets someone over there and wants to resch him/her remember that only 3 out of 10 phones are iPhones. So they will be forced to switch : no free texting, no Facetime, no imessage, no read receipts, no way to send files by the default apps on the iPhone.

[animatronicgoofy]

Love your videos and coming from someone who lives in the US it's crazy how so many people judge green bubbles and can't just use other messaging apps like other countries can

[holygooff]

I never heard about this. What an evil company is Apple.

[Cali_Tali]

I live in USA and I’ve been using WhatsApp for 12 years because all my phones have been Android, and over all, it’s a good a messaging app. I recently switched to an iPhone, but will continue to use WhatsApp.

[Dailys]

What is even funnier, my Samsung S23 Ultra has a lot more features than my friends' iPhones.

[roughrosa]

I think people use WhatsApp for it’s ease of use and the connectivity, not so much about privacy or data. It’s a chatting app anyway, not for serious stuffs. Just ONE app for everything and having the same people and world-wide connections, is unbeatable. It’s easy when you travel, everyone and every country is on WhatsApp. I had an Amazon delivery guy contacted me on WhatsApp in Saudi Arabia and it’s seamless. No change of phone number or sim, etc. it can be run on PC too.

Having group chats keep information and updates easy or group video chats seamless and organised in one place. And having ‘business WhatsApp’ over personal keep everything compartmentalised but not separated.

I use iPhone, but haven’t use the SMS for more than 15 years. No one does here.

[JHnDq]

thanks for the video, mate! it's very entertaining to watch this unecxpectable theme about the US as a guy, who lives in Ukraine, where the procent of iphone users is even much lesser than in Germany, we here mostly use not whatsapp, but telegram and viber. And yep, I agree with the fact of whatsapp popularity in Europe, cause almost all my friends from western and central europe send messages to me with whatsapp.

[lsdzheeusi]

America is the birthplace of so much technology and innovation and at the same time, so backwards at adopting those same advances. It's embarrassing.