I'm happy to pay for chat, just not for Telegram. I'd absolutely pay for Signal.

You can donate to Signal if you want to support them. In the settings menu there's an option to give a one-time or monthly donation.

I'm genuinely curious, what are the reasons you wouldn't pay for Telegram? Is that only a matter of preference, or does Telegram have some critical issues?

You can donate to Signal one-time or monthly. They make it very easy with Apple Pay.

I'd be very willing to pay for a good chat app.

But if Facebook turned around and would say "hey if you all start paying us we can drop the whole evil thing" then yeah they'll get my middle finger. They just have lost my trust.

In Asia, Line seems to be doing well selling stickers which I guess can be a way to monetize a chat app.

Have you ever used Line? It’s the most privacy-invasive app I’ve used after FB. Constantly asks for access to location, contact book, photos etc. Line is mostly popular in Thailand, outside its very much Telegram and WA.

> Constantly asks for access to location, contact book, photos etc.

a) Isn't that reasonable for a chat app? I mean, contact book, photos, location are all things that are likely part of the fabric of your chats with others?

b) It might ask for permission, but does it stop working if you deny permission? (I genuinely don't know since I'm not a user). If it doesn't prevent you from chatting, I don't think this is a strong argument.

Line is a Japanese company, and as such it is THE messaging app in Japan, it is absolutely everywhere here.