Originally Posted by Cloudane:
“Didn't strongly decide against one, you just have to pick an option and Hangouts already being installed on Android at the time (and also pushed as a default SMS client at the time) = obvious answer.
But also, he (and others) wouldn't particularly know WhatsApp and I'd have to go through "yes it's trustworthy, no it's probably not going to randomly get shut down or start charging" etc whilst everyone understands Google and aside from a few nerds who make a big noise about data collection most people are fine with using their products.
Of course, we're now more aware that actually Google stuff can and does randomly get shut down, continuing to use Hangouts has a bit of a question mark over it.”
I've disabled Hangouts, ChatOn, Flipboard, Google, Google+, Google Search, Facebook and Twitter plus a number of unnecessary apps and widgets (News Daemon and Weather Daemon anyone?) that have been preinstalled on my devices. These apps and widgets just take up far too much space on devices and they all get larger and larger all the time with every update leaving you with far too little space to install other apps on your devices eventually.
They aren't even all necessary apps you need running all the time on smartphones and tablets. And they use up far too many system resources.
Using a combo of VPN, Https, incognito browsing with the ability to disable ads is a big way to make yourself safe while using the internet. The information you send while pressing the Sumbit/Reply button while surfing with VPN on set to USA and incoginito browsing with ads disabled cannot be read by your ISP, your MNO or MVNO, or the government.
There's no need for these in your face pop up ads that appear on websites you enter, and you can't even see the X button to close it.