28 per cent of users to leave WhatsApp after new policy, CMR study

According to a survey conducted by CyberMedia Research (CMR) firm, nearly 28 per cent of WhatsApp users are planning to leave the platform after the announcement of its new privacy policy. The study detected that the new privacy policy has made the brand's trust and security of instant messaging apps reach a critical point. However, 79 per cent of users are giving second thoughts to quit the platform and switch to other messaging platforms such as Signal and Telegram. Survey analysis correlates this with the extension of implementation of the new privacy policy.

Among the alternative apps, Telegram is gaining more advantage with 41 per cent users planning to switch to it whereas Signal has been preferred by 31 per cent. Telegram scores over Signal in terms of awareness (55%) and actual usage (39%). The survey also found that 37 per cent of users actually used Telegram over the past one year, while only 10 per cent used Signal.

"Our research points out that Telegram, in particular, has gained traction amongst users over the past year, much before the recent WhatsApp PR fiasco. While Signal has enjoyed a recent burst in its popularity, it has not been able to scale swiftly enough, and users have faced challenges with it", Prabhu Ram, Head Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR commented on the new findings.

Majority of research populations felt unsafe in the backup provided by Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp whereas Telegram retained high trust (49 per cent) in their cloud storage.