Thanks, I do run my own server so this is a possibility

Good to know, thanks

Thanks, yeah I’m always on a VPN, but as you suggested, maybe nowadays it’s not about trying to live without an account, but having the account with generic/fake profile data.

Oh I hadn’t heard of Beeper. Thanks I’ll look in to that.

Thanks, yeah I had thought about using separate SIMs to sign up but then, like you said, would still need to sync contacts.

Although I hadn’t really though about only using the desktop apps.

Thanks for your comment Deckweiss. To reply to your assumptions I’m not American and am definitely not young.

I’d be interested to hear about how your and your friends learn about local events without any access to the main channels that seem to be used by most venues, i.e. Facebook and Instagram, as I’d happily take some advice on this.

Also, as per my original post, it is not about meeting new people, that I have no problem with, it is about the inevitable conversation when they exclusively use WhatsApp to stay in contact.

In the UK the max for contactless payments is £100 and contactless is now the norm, so a shielded wallet would be highly recommended.

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Thanks for the info. andOTP authenticator works perfectly.