Mark Zuckerberg attacks iMessage and thinks WhatsApp is more secure

To maintain a certain spirit of competition, brands offer the public the safest, cheapest, most accessible service, etc. They regularly send each other thumbnails to show and remind who is presenting.

Meta, Apple and Google regularly go after each other in the instant messaging space. For example, in January 2022, Google accused Apple of scaring Android users with iMessage. In the company’s eyes, Apple is deliberately not launching iMessage on Android to encourage users to switch to iPhone.

Mark Zuckerberg attacks iMessage over the security of its exchanges

But this time the goal of the day comes from Mark Zuckerberg. In a post on Instagram and Facebook, Meta’s boss shared a photo of an advertising poster hung in New York. It directly targets the security offered by iMessage. And here’s what the billionaire said by way of explanation:

“WhatsApp is more private and secure than iMessage, with end-to-end encryption that works on both iPhone and Android, including group chats. You can also make all new chats disappear by pressing a single button on WhatsApp. We also introduced end-to-end encrypted backups last year. iMessage doesn’t have all of that yet.” He is writing.

Also read: Google Messages will be revamped and will have nothing to envy WhatsApp

Frankly, it’s fair game for Mark Zuckerberg to defend his own community, namely WhatsApp, while denigrating one of its main rivals in the process. But is he fundamentally right? It is true that iMessage’s source code and encryption protocol are not open, unlike Signal.

It should also be added that iCloud backups of iMessage exchanges can be retrieved and accessed by law enforcement. There’s a good reason why Apple keeps decryption keys on its servers. Finally, it should not be forgotten that iMessage only offers encrypted transactions between users who own an iPhone. In fact, conversations between iMessage users and contacts on an Android smartphone are not end-to-end encrypted.

Again, Mark Zuckerberg forgot to vacuum his door before criticizing iMessage. In November 2021, an FBI report proved that WhatsApp is the app that provides the most real-time information about a user and their activities. If an arrest warrant is submitted, the authorities can obtain the content of the messages, not forgetting the address book, many metadata such as the date the messages were sent and the recipients.