WhatsApp Messenger is a travelers (or travellers) dream app.
[Note: this was written in 2012 before most westerners knew the app and before Facebook purchased it and caused it to be questionable.]
WhatsApp can become your main messaging service, enabling you to send and receive text message — and now voice messages — between your friends no matter which country they are in, or which country their devices phone number is in — with NO SMS fees, no texting fees, no call fees and no international call fees. (I am not sure if there are some countries where this does not work.) Actually, it is not just text messages. You can send unlimited images, video and audio media messages. And yes, you can even create groups. (Here is [was] their FAQ about fees.)
The only requirement is that the people you text have to have WhatsApp installed on their device — and then you have to have internet access to send or receive the messages. But messages will wait for you if they are sent when you are not online.
WhatsApp Messenger device platforms
If you use an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone, Nokia S40, and Nokia Symbian, you’re in luck and can get WhatsApp. For some of these platforms it is free. On iPhone the price is typically $1.99, but at times it is free and as I write this it is 99 cents US. [Update 11-2013: It’s a free download & free for 1 year.]
WhatsApp Messenger uses your regular internet data plan — the same one you are using for email and web browsing. That is: you can use it on wi-fi and/or use it on your regular cellular data plan. If traveling like me, you can use it on your pre-paid data plan. (In Central American Spanish this is sometimes called a Navigation plan.)
When you install WhatsApp and register to use it, you are asked your phone number.
The phone number was my road block — I had no phone number. (I gave up my landline when I moved out of my apartment, then gave up my cell phone number when I left the USA.) So I wrote and I asked the WhatsApp folks if they could bypass the verification or do it by email or such. They replied that for the security of their users, their verification process is solely done via SMS or voice.
Happily, though, their reply went on to provide a few solutions, very well thought out, stating the benefits or cons of each possible solution. The WhatsApp folks are not only incredibly helpful, but are brilliant too. The person who helped me wrote:
I noticed that you have a Google Voice number. Registering with your GV number should be very straightforward and easy. You will receive an SMS or a phone call in your GV inbox.
Using GV would allow you to continue using that number when you return to the States, and anywhere you have internet access. So even if you want to switch/use multiple phones, you can still use your GV number with WhatsApp.
So that was my solution of choice.
The other alternative didn’t work for me at the time as they realize here:
You could also use a local phone number (e.g. pre-paid) to register in WhatsApp. You do not need to have cellular data for this number; you simply need to be able to receive an SMS or voice call. Since your iPhone is SIM locked, it sounds like you would need to purchase a phone as well. When you message your contacts in WhatsApp, they will receive the message from your foreign number, but each WhatsApp client makes it easy to add new phone numbers to the address book. Having a local phone will also give you the ability to make and receive local calls.
So, using my GV number, which I have been using since my 2nd week out of the USA. I use it on wi-fi where available. I actually now can get a local number so when I buy a local sim card I get a data plan and use it on that. I’ve only sent texts via WhatsApp so far because I use email on wi-fi to send photos to friends.
As I switch SIM cards to have a local number in each country, upon next launch WhatsApp asks if I would like to register that number. I just say no.
Phishing – Spam caution regarding WhatsApp
When a great app becomes popular, it also becomes the target of nasty people.
You may receive emails that claim to be from WhatsApp Messaging Service.
These emails look very real, saying Message Details, stating the length of the call and how to play it. DON’T read these! Ignore and trash them.
Here is the reply I received when I alerted WhatsApp to the phishing email:
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