Yasha Levine takes Whatsapp's security claims to task:
WhatsApp might have played fast and loose with the security of its hundreds of millions of users up to now, but that’s about to change. After all, if there’s one company WhatsApp users can trust to safeguard their privacy, surely that company is… uh… Facebook.
I don't think I will ever get the appeal of Whatsapp, but man does it have a shit privacy record. It does seem though that users are paying attention to security in some way. Over the past week an app called Telegram Messenger has passed Whatsapp in the free rankings, and it boasts better security than Whatsapp.
Humorously, under 'security', the app just assures you it is secure. So, yeah.
On the paid side an app called Threema has been sliding up the charts. For $1.99 it claims to offer true end to end encryption on messaging, but to be fair Apple's native iMessage offers end to end encryption too. The big question is where, who, and how the encryption keys are stored. For its part Threema is based in Switzerland, who knows if that helps anything.
It's encouraging that users seems to be paying attention to more secure messaging platforms, but crazy that so many large news outlets billed Whatsapp as secure, ignoring the evidence to the contrary.