For the non-Asians, LINE is the Japanese version of WeChat or WhatsApp. So yeah, it’s Japanese spyware that has spread to the majority of East Asia.

LINE Features

• LINE Pay: Like Apple Pay but with LINE
• Instant messaging: This was the original purpose of the app
• LINE News: Like Google News but in the LINE app
• LINE Doctor: Why? Why would anyone use LINE to contact a doctor? Go face to face or use a Signal
• LINE Music: Japanese Spotify in the LINE app
• More corporate services

Problems with LINE Features

• LINE Pay:
  • Apple has been infamous for locking users in their walled garden, I think it’s time to look at LINE
  • LINE Pay is not private, should be obvious why. Using any form of centralized payment system can be tracked easily
  • Using LINE Pay is just stupid, you have a credit card/cash for a reason, why are you so lazy?
• Instant messaging:
  • The app itself is horrendous. Thank god I have pihole to block most of the ads, but once I leave my house, ads come in like crazy. The front page is nothing but ads, you have to tap another button to get to your chat list on mobile
  • Oh but does LINE have a desktop version? No. At least not a real application. They could’ve at least used Electron like Discord does, but they only have an extension for Chrome. I don’t use Chrome. I don’t care if that’s my problem, an app of this size should be cross platform. They have the money and staff to do it. SO DO IT. Why cut out a portion of your consumers that don’t want to be staring at a tiny screen for texts?
• LINE News: Stop. No one is reading news on your app, go develop a desktop version of LINE first
• LINE Music: LINE is really trying every avenue to steal your data and rope you into their ecosystem. It may work on the Japanese, but it won’t work on sane people. When tools like yt-dlp exists, there is no need for a streaming service that steals your data, drains your battery, and gives you the same audio quality

Message to People Who Still Willingly Use LINE

Please switch to another platform. LINE forces you into their ecosystem, bombards you with ads, and is obviously backdoored. Please switch to Signal. Signal has no ads, no ecosystem, and less likely to be backdoored.

LINE CTF

LINE CTF is the only redeeming fact about the company. I enjoy CTFs, and LINE delivers. No company in my country will ever host a CTF.