Coordinating the 10 people in my family group to not only install a new app, but choose it the next time they want to send a message (especially if they add a new person) is not to going to be easy (and in some cases might be impossible if some people refuse).
You can't, WhatsApp will only let you send to numbers that also have WhatsApp installed.
There's an "invite friends" sharesheet that will send a signup URL, but that's it.
> If WhatsApp doesn't just work, then it's at a severe disadvantage any way you look at it.
Ultimately WhatsApp has won in most of the world, so this clearly isn't that big of a problem.
That's my point. It's a very substandard experience for initial contact to SMS, which is ubiquitous.
> Ultimately WhatsApp has won in most of the world, so this clearly isn't that big of a problem.
Compared to SMS, WhatsApp is almost nothing. And given that maybe 2-3 people in my family group might have it installed, "won most of the world" is irrelevant for me, and probably most groups of any size or with people over 30, as there's likely to be a few people without it.