Whatapp and other chatapps are popular because they are instant and have overcome the initial adaption issues that arrise with new messaging platforms. The interface of email its backend is too dated for instant chat messaging. Why were the MSN and yahoo messenger apps so popular in the early days of the internet? They were an evolution of written communication methods. Unfortunately, email is just a legacy product that no one wants to improve. So we all have to end up working around its limitations.

As much as I want to create a non-meta alternative to Whatsapp or a better email infrastructure, there is no compelling enough differentiator for most users. Just look at the privacy benefits of Signal, yet, people don't care. Just look at the aesthetic benefits of iMessage, yet people don't care. They just want an easy to use and responsive cross platform method of communication.

A good solution is a unified messaging app, able to combine all platform's messaging, but these often become defunct because of API issues or T&C breeched.