LINE and WeChat are two great apps for instant messaging and their are among the leaders when it comes to messaging apps. If you want to have a great time chatting with and calling your friends, both LINE and WeChat can be a wonderful option. It is beyond doubt that WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app, but apps like LINE and WeChat have managed to go beyond an ordinary messaging app and they offer many wonderful features. In this article, I will compare and contrast these two apps in a detailed LINE vs WeChat comparison. So read along to find out which one of these two apps is a better option to choose.
LINE vs WeChat – LINE pros & cons
LINE is very popular messaging app with over 600 million registered users. This application is free to use and it offers support for major platforms including mobile devices and computers. Compared to apps such as WhatsApp, LINE offers more social features. Here are some of the main LINE features:
- Free text messages, voice and video calls
- Make group chats and calls with up to 200 people
- Timeline feature which allows users to share photos or status with their friends
- Find new friends with “People Nearby” feature
- Share different multi media files with your friends
- Use a variety of fun stickers
- Have a personal storage space on your LINE account with the “Keep” feature
- Make international calls with “LINE Out“
- End-to-end encryption for all chats by default
These were some of the most significant features that LINE messenger has to offer. Now in order to have a better LINE vs WeChat comparison, let’s see what are the disadvantages of LINE application that users may experience.
- The number of official accounts on LINE are not very large
- Smaller user base which makes it more difficult to find friends on it
- The Audio messages (voicemails) sent are often sloppy and have to be downloaded as an attachment unlike WeChat
LINE vs WeChat – WeChat pros & cons
Wechat is another messaging app which is widely popular and it has over 889 million users around the world. In order to decide which app is a better option, you need to take a look at its main features. Here are some of the most significant features that WeChat offers:
- Free text messages, voice and video calls
- Create group chats with up to 500 people and make video calls with up to 9 people
- Use “Friend Radar”, “People Nearby” and “Shake” to find new friends
- Moments feature allow you to share every moment of your life with your firends
- Share your real-time location with other WeChat users
- Use the sticker gallery to share fun and animated stickers and GIFs
- Make calls to landlines or mobiles around the world with WeChat out calls
- Multimedia messaging for sharing photos, videos, and voice messages
Aside from all the marvelous features that WeChat has to offer, there are some drawbacks to this application that you need to consider in LINE vs WeChat comparison. Here are some of them:
- You can’t import your chat conversations to a new device
- All your account data is locked to your phone number and you cannot change it
- There are some issues with WeChat security and it may hand your data over to the Chinese government
- Few users outside China and Japan
LINE vs WeChat security
We use messaging apps to share different sorts of private data on our phones. That is why it is absolutely essential to account for the security and privacy of our personal data. When it comes to security, messaging apps implement an encryption method called end-to-end encryption which ensures that only the two ends of the conversation are able to view the messages. Previously, LINE application only offered this encryption in its Secret Chat feature. But recently, LINE added end-to-end encryption to all its chat conversations by default to make sure that it would be impossible to hack LINE account.
On the other hand, WeChat messenger has a bad reputation for security as it is believed that the Chinese government is able to spy on WeChat accounts. When it comes to encryption, WeChat offers client to server and server to client encryption. This method of encryption is not as reliable as end-to-end encryption and that is why LINE application is a better option if you are concerned for security and privacy.
LINE vs WeChat – Conclusion
So, which app is a better option? LINE or WeChat?
Something absolutely important you need to consider when you want to choose a messaging app is the user base. We use these applications to talk to our friends, so we need to choose an app which most of our friends are using. Otherwise, we need to convince all of them to move to the app that we are using. When it comes to user base, WeChat has more users in comparison to LINE messenger.
Another important factor to consider is the security of the application. When it comes to the security of users’ data, LINE is a better option as it offers end-to-end encryption for messages.
Overall, both LINE and WeChat are great options when it comes to instant messaging. What you need to consider is to see what matters to you the most when you want to choose one of them.
