Communication is the process of sending and receiving information on phone lines or computers. With new messaging platforms launching every now and then, it is important to find a simple and reliable messaging platform for daily communication. According to AppFigures, the following communication apps are the most popular in Kenya:
Opera Mini
Opera Mini is a fast browser with AI-powered news, a powerful download manager with offline file sharing, a convenient media player, and an all-in-one mini-sized appl you can use as your local storage. It is a mobile web browser that requests web pages through Opera software’s compression proxy server that processes and compresses the requested web pages before sending them to the mobile phone.
Opera Mini is fast because it uses a server to translate HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style (CSS), and JavaScript into a more compact format and shrink any images to fit as the handset screen.
Opera Mini can operate in three compression modes, uncompressed, turbo or high on Android versions, and mini or extreme on Android versions.
The turbo and mini modes increase speed on the lower connections and reduce the amount of data transferred. Opera Mini fetches all content through a proxy server, formats web pages into more suitable for small screens, as it renders the content using the Presto layout engine, unlike other up-front web browsers.
Opera Binary Markup Language (OBLM) is the markup language that a compressed page is delivered to on a phone that Opera Mini can interpret.
The pre-processing of data compression improves the display of web pages not designed for small screens. It also makes transfer time about two to three times faster, according to Opera Software.
It is available on Android for Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone 8.1, Blackberry, Symbian, and Bada. It is the most downloaded mobile application in Kenya today.
WhatsApp has been able to top the charts of the most used and downloaded App in Kenya in recent years because of its ability to send and receive pictures and videos that have revolutionized communication.
Users have been able to call and chat with people globally without incurring roaming charges and do not consume much data has made it accessible and must have to everyone.
To start, you can download and launch the Phoenix on Google Play Store or Apple Store. Tap the WhatsApp icon on your home screen to open the application, review the terms and conditions, register, set up your profile, allow access to contacts and photos then start chatting. You can also use WhatsApp Web to browse it on your computer. Similarly, users have been using Bluestacks to run the android app on their PC.
Phoenix Browser
It is a fast web browser for Android devices that features a local news feed and free movie resources. It is preferred by most users in Kenya because it uses fewer data and enables smooth browsing on slow networks, downloads all format videos and social media clips faster as well as loads webpages faster.
It allows for incognito browsing and makes your browsing experience private without leaving any history, cookies, and cache. Phoenix has a smart detection function that automatically detects downloadable videos while browsing on the web that allows you to download and save online videos from almost every website.
The further allows you to switch search engines according to your preference and supports Google, Yahoo, Ask, Yandex, AOL, DickDuckGo, and Bing.
Telegram
Telegram comes fourth on the most used application in the Kenyan Charts. It is the fastest messaging app on the market, connecting people through a unique distributed network of data centers worldwide.
The chats, groups, and media on Telegram are secure because it is encrypted using a combination of 256-bit symmetric AES encryption, 2048-bit RSA encryption, and Diffie-Hellman key exchange.
You can also send unlimited media and files without any limitations on their type and size. You can also create group chats with up to 200,000 members, share documents of any file type up to 2GB, share large videos, and even set up bots for specific tasks.
Telegram has powerful photo and video editing tools, animated stickers and emoji, fully customizable themes to change the appearance of your app, and an open sticker/GIF platform to cater to all your expressive needs.
Truecaller
Truecaller helps in identifying incoming calls from unknown numbers. It has helped law enforcement agencies fight crime, catch harassers as well as preventing financial fraud.
Most Kenyans use Truecaller when avoiding calls from loaning apps to agents of loans they have defaulted.
