The past few weeks have seen an extraordinary shift away from WhatsApp, the long-time default encrypted end to end messaging app, to alternate messaging apps including Signal and Telegram.

Like any good story it started with once upon a time when WhatsApp notified all its users telling them something they should have already known, Facebook, WhatsApp’s long time owners, was and will be mining and using using our WhatsApp data to feed the Facebook ecosystem. Only difference now is that Facebook now demand you to agree to it,

Everything else about the app, its security, encryption, huge user database, all remains the same

Bur perception rules and this announcement coupled with Whatsapp, and other encrypted messaging apps, purportedly being used by rioters in Washington and a general recent decline in trust of the security of WhatsApp, has led to mass user defections to the messaging opposition.

In this weeks on-air catch up Hong Kong Radio 3’s Phil Whelan and I explore the reality and perceptions of this messaging war and what it takes to migrate to the opposition and then continue on from last weeks CES tour and take a look at some of the new gadgets, tech and directions showcased in this years annual tech-extravaganza.

Listen now (17 minutes 30 seconds)…