WhatsApp CEO launches scathing attack at Apple

The war of words between Apple and Facebook is far from over, after WhatsApp CEO Cathcart attacked the company in a recent podcast.

Speaking at the "Big Technology Podcast", the WhatsApp CEO said Apple did not want people to use Android phones.

He gave the example of the US, saying that more people were using iPhones in the country and the messaging experience in iMessage is better when everyone is using it.

Cathcart said it is "certainly in their [Apple's] strategic interest" that people not use WhatsApp as they want people to not use an Android phone.

Many companies are not happy with Apple after the company rolled out its new privacy labels earlier this year and had said that its App Tracking Transparency framework would also go live soon.

As per these live labels, Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp collect more data than other apps.

Cathcart said whatever may be the purpose of these apps, it is a fact that WhatsApp competes with iMessage.

"In the US more people use iMessage than WhatsApp. You don’t see a label for iMessage when you download it because you don’t download it, it’s on your phone to begin with. And so, we were critical of that," he said.

Apple’s ‘Labels’ page has all the information about data that is collected by in-house apps. For apps like iMessage that already in the phone and can’t be removed, Apple has labels for these on their website.

Saying that WhatsApp's user base is very "Android heavy", Cathcart said he himself uses an Android phone.

"I also use an iPad, I’ve used iPhones for many years, but I really want to actually use the product in the way most people are using it, so I use an Android. A lot of people use both or go back and forth because we’re building our products for both and you got to understand them all.," he added.