How many of you guys use WhatsApp to communicate back and forth with friends in Africa? I use it ALL the time. Free....Easy, and it seems most all the PH's over there use it. Just wondering. Even a great way to keep in touch with friend on AR.

I do. The late Mr. Ian Gibson showed it to me. 'Probably arrange my next trip over with it.

Best purchase made by FB.

Everyone in the third world uses it and soon everyone in the first world will use it.

Mike

Ditto.

I use it daily for calls and texts in the UK, Latin America, Europe and Africa. Great app!

Larry

It is a fantastic app, use it all the time.

Get updates from friends all over the world, including some on safari.

Another app we use is Instagram, for sharing photos.

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Best purchase made by FB.

Depends how you looks at it. Would have been a lot cheaper to just hire the guy when he applied there and they could have got anything he invented for probably a few hundred grand a year. As it is, $22 billion...probably the costliest personnel blunder in history.

I was introduced to it through the guys at CM safaris and my cameraman Ray BUchanan.
Fantastic and easy way to keep in contact with all the guys back in ZIm.

Cheers

Nick

Love it

Good Hunting
CF

You know I use it. I started using it in 2011.

Yep.

I use it especially ially when out of the US

Yeah. It's how I keep in touch with the Zimbos - love getting the pictures from them after, and sometimes during, a hunt.

Just got some pics of a Tanz buff and some tigerfish from Lance this morning, as a matter of fact.

I use it too!

Best regards, D. Nelson

is the only difference between it and Skype is that it's free instead of very cheap?

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
is the only difference between it and Skype is that it's free instead of very cheap?

Not exactly as WhatsApp doesn't support live video chat unless you download a third party app - it's a messenger app only right now. Live video chat is coming, or so they claim.

Just to be clear, you can send and receive video files.

Oh, and there's also a desktop plugin if you use Google Chrome as your web browser.

I used it on my last safari in Namibia and it worked great for what I used it for, mainly just to stay in touch with faminly

quote:

Originally posted by tendrams:

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Best purchase made by FB.

Depends how you looks at it. Would have been a lot cheaper to just hire the guy when he applied there and they could have got anything he invented for probably a few hundred grand a year. As it is, $22 billion...probably the costliest personnel blunder in history.

Why don't you see FB stock price since the acquisition ?

Would have, could have and should are easy to say in hindsight.

Mike

WhatsApp added voice a few months ago which works pretty well for free.

About the only way I stay in touch with family and friends while working in Saudi Arabia.

Love the app...

for international communication it is great, for domestic i just text

So whats app enables you to "text" through a wifi connection rather than use international cellular and get nailed with big roaming charges..
Am I getting this correct?

quote:

Originally posted by Dead Eye:
So whats app enables you to "text" through a wifi connection rather than use international cellular and get nailed with big roaming charges..
Am I getting this correct?

Yes sir

I use it to communicate with my friends in SA, really pretty neat.

I use it daily

Twitter is a good way to keep in contact with people. They recently changed the 140 character limit on direct messages, which makes texting overseas easy and free.

What is it? How do I use it? I suppose I need a cellular phone. I lost mine a few months back. I'm thinking about one of those I-phones this time. That might help.

Shit I can barely get my cell phone to work, never mind useless apps.

Mind you where I live the cell phone only receives service sporadically. But that is a good thing.

Whatsapp and Viber have been around for quite some time and most of us folks living in these "backward" Third World countries have been making use of the free services ever since they came on the market.

The convenience of W/App is that besides texting, it also allows you to send photos and film clips whereas Viber lets you talk free until your throat goes dry.

All you require are either a BB or Iphone and an internet subscription which will make it possible to download the respective application.

The reason whatsapp took off is it uses 3g and older generation wireless internet to create a great product.

It offer free text and pictures and now voice. Voice is damn good.

It took off in the third world which US need to realize is a lot of people phones and money. 100 mil plus user in India alone. 900 mil. globally. China has stayed out for national security - smart guys - they have kept google out and fb too.

I will bet FB finds a way into china - if the chinese are smart they will control and restrict google which i think is more evil than chinese communism. Best think AR does is keep google out .

In the US FB will tie whatsapp into its messenger app.

All these app are outdating phones - you need phone for mobile access to internet not direct communication.

I will bet in next 10 years most places in africa where we hunt you will not need a sat phone. Save Conservancy now has cell service - sim card and phone card and you can whatsapp away.

Mike

LOVE IT. The only way to stay in touch with my African friends

I used it on my recent trip to Dande. I was surprised to find that in 2 years, the cell signal was drastically improved.


It works great.

I have a friend who was living in the stone age, technically, and absolutely refused to change his old Nokia telephone.

Last year his wife gave him a smart phone, he still refused to change.

The only reason that made him change was Whatsapp!

I kept telling him about all the things we do here, and that if he could drag himself out of the stone age and use his new smart phone, I could send him photos.

That did it.

Now I am getting several messages from him every day - instead of an email once a month!

He loves it!

I use it all the time to communicate with my friends in South Africa. It is great for sending pictures!

We too used it from S. Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.

While I was somewhat skeptical at first it worked like a champ and it was fun to have and most everybody here enjoyed the pics and texts both. With a good signal it was fast.

Some of my buddies were afraid to load it though as they thought it would somehow steal their pictures of Jennifer Lawrence I suppose. Ha- Lol . Of course there was no problems with any of that for anybody that did download and use it.

Love it and the best way to keep in touch with friends living or traveling abroad. Love the photos from the field that I get when I stuck in the office dreaming about getting back to Africa.

African Big Game Hunting?

Andrew,
It is a communication tool that will help you get bookings and lower your cell phone bill. It is a stretch but this thread can go here.
Your flip phone probably doesn't have the memory for this!

Be advised, Whatsapp malware scam is on the rise for those who are using the app (and for those that don't). Don't respond to e-mails or messages that report you have a voice mail waiting.


http://www.hoax-slayer.com/wha...malware-emails.shtml


https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/28030005

Don't feel bad about the jab of having a flip phone Andrew. Our cell service sucks where I live and outside of hunting season my cell sits in a drawer in my bedroom. Only take it when we travel.

Have a hell of a time getting clients and friends to understand that I don;t carry it all the time and could care less about texting back and forth all the time............... I tell them just send me an e-mail and I will get it when I have time. There is nothing that important that I need to know it instantly and if it was that important I probably would be where I had no cell service anyways, which is most of the time where I live. LOL