When comparing WhatsApp vs Password Safe, the Slant community recommends Password Safe for most people. In the question“What are the best Material Design apps?” Password Safe is ranked 19th while WhatsApp is ranked 34th. The most important reason people chose Password Safe is:
No ads, No tracking, No fees. 100% Open Source.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Straightforward interface
The interface is very simple, fast and easy to use. You can start using it as soon as the app has been downloaded - it does not require setting anything up or registering. You can communicate with anyone in your contacts list that also uses WhatsApp. Includes useful features like seeing when a contact is currently available or typing.
Pro Widely used
WhatsApp reported 1.5 billion users in 2018. Your friends are most likely already using WhatsApp, so it's easy to get setup.
Pro Effortlessly builds your contacts by using your phone number as identification
WhatsApp will automatically find all of your contacts currently using Whatsapp and add them to your contacts. This makes it really easy to setup and given that it's the most popular messaging app it's likely that a lot of your contacts are already using it.
Pro Message mirroring on web app
WhatsApp can be used from the desktop via Chrome, Firefox and Opera browsers. Accessing it requires using the Android app to scan the QR code that's presented on web.whatsapp.com.
Pro Signal protocol
Whatsapp uses the state-of-the-art Signal protocol that ensure strong end-to-end encryption.
Pro One-on-one texts can be encrypted
WhatsApp has implemented end to end encryption for messages sent on it's service. Even WhatsApp has no way to read a users messages.
Pro Open Source
No ads, No tracking, No fees. 100% Open Source.
Pro Anyone can verify the code since the software is open source
Anyone can review the code.
Pro Completely offline
This does not save or synch with any server; no connection to any external server. There is no central server to hack, no network connection to sniff.
Pro Portable
Password Safe has a portable versiona, PasswordSafe2Go.
There is also PasswordSafe for U3 (still supported, but no longer available).
Pro Runs on Linux
Pro One of the oldest and most reliable project of all of them
Pro Very robust enncrypted file
Password Safe has an extremely robust file format in which multiple researches have not found a weakness.
Pro Linux and Windows
Cross-platform.
Pro Great user interface on Mac and iOS
Since the passwordSafe is essentially an open standard multiple people can use to develop apps. The pwsafe apps for Mac and iOS are really excellent (paid) management options.
Cons
Con Shares meta data with Facebook
WhatsApp shares your messaging meta data with Facebook if you do not opt-out in the settings. If you use the same phone number for WhatsApp and Facebook, the profiles can easily be linked.
See https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/26000016
Con Tied to carrier phone number
WhatsApp cannot be used by people without a smart phone with an active cell plan. If your phone is lost or damaged, or if your phone number changes, you cannot get messages sent by friends without them updating your phone number. You cannot send message to them until you are able to get SMS messages at your phone number.
Con Proprietary
Not open source.
Con Hard to migrate history cross platform
Migrating your chat history from Android to iOS or the other way around is not so simple. In some cases it requires a 3rd party app and in some the only way is to migrate specific chats one by one.
Con Web interface uses message mirroring
To use your computer to send messages your phone must be on with a consistent data connection.
Con Single device
You cannot use the same WhatsApp account on multiple devices (e.g. a tablet, a PC and a cellphone). The account is tied to the device with the specific cellphone number. Chat history is deleted when you sign in to a new account, unless you have created a backup.
Con No cloud sync
Messages are not stored on WhatsApp server for privacy and security reasons.
Con Limitation on shareable file sizes
WhatsApp now allows users to share files of any type, but there is still a 16 MB size limit.
Con Dated UI
Difficult to use for new users.
Con No official browser integration
No browser plugins available.