In a new Instagram post, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg declared WhatsApp to be “far more secure and private” than Apple’s iMessage.

Zuckerberg shared an image of a billboard in New York City promoting WhatsApp’s new ad campaign targeting SMS and iMessage. The billboard asks the users to drop the “Green Bubble” vs “Blue Bubble” debate and switch to WhatsApp’s “Private Bubble.” “Protect your personal messages across devices with end-to-end encryption. Always message privately,” the ad reads.

In the post’s caption, Zuckerberg said that WhatsApp is better than iMessage because it offers end-to-end encryption and works across both Android and iOS. He adds that WhatsApp offers more features, such as disappearing chats and encrypted group chats. The Meta CEO further takes a dig at the iMessage, saying that it still doesn’t offer end-to-end encrypted backups — something that WhatsApp does offer.

In addition to this, Apple has also faced criticism from its fellow rival Google for not adapting RCS on iOS. RCS is secure and encrypted and is supported on most modern Android smartphones. While RCS offers end-to-end encryption in personal messaging, Google hasn’t yet implemented support for encryption in group messages. WhatsApp, on the other hand, claims to offer end-to-end encryption in both personal as well as group chats.

It’s Not About iMessage vs WhatsApp Anymore

Meta and Apple have been rivals for some time, but recently they have grown increasingly wary of each other. The Cupertino-giant has been accused of hurting small businesses and its advertising business by introducing App Tracking Transparency which allows iPhone users to opt-out of tracking across other websites and apps, thus preventing Meta from targeting ads to the users. 

In addition to competing in the messaging field, both companies are competing against each other in the AR/VR space. Meta announced its Quest Pro AR headset earlier this month, with Apple expected to enter this field next year.

Source: Instagram