I am told in Taiwan I cannot use LINE with a prepaid phone number.
I tried anyway, using Far East Tone - impossible, the verification message when setting up an account doesn’t get through.
I am also told in Taiwan it is illegal to have 2 LINE accounts.
So maybe I cannot set up an account here if I have one at home?
I find this all a bit hard to believe, at home LINE is just a messenger app, anybody can install it, never any problem.
Anybody can explain what is LINE in Taiwan?
Line is basically a better version of WhatsApp. It does work on prepaid. Usually you need to select Taiwan from the list and put in your cell # … eg. 09xxxxxxxx … you should get a text message to authenticate.
If you don’t get the message ask fareastone why
LINE does work on prepaid # from personal experience.
After set-up, just make sure you add your email address, so that if you switch phones or switch to another SIM #, you can keep your contacts, etc.
Oo what exactly is better in Line when compared with WhatsApp? Even my Japanese friends are moving to WhatsApp, since the coding quality (usability, 3party app integration, performance, low-bandwidth compatibility etc.) is so much better…
What do you like more in Line?
I probably had like 10 line accounts because every time I switch phones, or even erased an existing phone, the previous account didn’t transfer and I had to make new ones.
My main beef with WhatsApp is you can’t add friends with user ID or even phone number manually. You need to know their phone number and add them to the contact list and sometimes it will add them and other times not. It’s not user-friendly that way. Whereas some people are more comfortable with giving you their line ID but perhaps not their number but with WhatsApp you don’t have the choice.
Line has so many more cute stickers, video effects and image filters 
Everything works, including audio/video chats works on desktop.
Whatsapp is slow with loading pics when trying to find one to send.
I dont have to give my number with LINE.
LINE has not been zucked by Myspacebook.
Nice. A useful verb that I didn’t even know existed…
LINE also has a better laid out friends list. To look for a friend/contact on whatsapp, you gotta go in with a few clicks, and pressing back brings you back to the chats. Very inconvenient.
You are being messed with 
Adding friends is a quick share of the ID or even just a scan of their QR code. Quick and easy.
I like that LINE has the notes, polls and the KEEP function. This makes it really easy if your chat group is a group specifically for a trip. You can save the itinerary and cost run down as a note. Start polls for restaurants or places to stay and save memorable pictures or even messages in KEEP.
Great thing about KEEP is if you have saved the picture/message/link/video , it’s a cloud, so as long as you keep your LINE account, you’ll never lose those.
I first started using LINE about 5 years ago - at the behest of my partner as our circle of friends all used LINE. I have always used a Prepaid number in Taiwan and never had an issue putting that number against LINE. It even likes my Australian number too, so someone is tugging the OP’s chain.
We used to use Skype, and while we still have it just in case LINE is offline, we rarely use it. It has gone downhill in my opinion since MS took it over too.
As to WhatsApp - given that it’s owned by Farcebook, no thanks. I also refuse to use FB on my phone - just use it via the Website.
And here I was, naively thinking for a moment that I’d found the ultimate excuse: sorry, I’m not allowed to use LINE because I’m foreign! 
Actually it doesn’t really matter whether LINE is better or worse than Whatsapp or any other IM app. The key thing is that it’s the de-facto standard messaging app in Taiwan. So if you want to be in contact with Taiwan people, businesses, shops, and other organisations you have to use LINE.
Other places have different “standards”. E.G. in Hong Kong, Whatsapp is pretty much ubiquitous and if you ask for someone’s LINE you get a blank look.
With this point I agree - I thought you were talking about features that both apps provide but which are better implemented in Line. Regarding the IDs I do agree, although if privacy is such a concern, there are of course other apps worth a look, like Signal or Threema.
Then again, @Occam’s statement comes into play:
Also with this I can’t argue, but the initial statement was specifically about Line being “better” than WhatsApp, that’s why I was interested.
I knew this argument had to come at some point. And in fact, Asia being Asia, this might be a valid “selling point” for many users…
Exactly, I have the feeling that WhatsApp was much more thoroughly tested, especially regarding user-friendliness. Some of my friends wanted to use Line and quickly got lost in some kind of obscure menu, not to talk about the painful migration process when purchasing a new phone (although that one improved, as I realized recently).
My experience in that regard is quite different, especially when working on a slow network connection, or with low remaining memory on the phone (the Line app grows incredibly big for some reason). Also, mobile data usage is way higher than when working with WhatsApp (of course I can always only talk about my own usage patterns).
I think the reason is that it’s downsizing the images before sending, which I consider a sensible step. If I want to send high-resolution photos, I can simply switch to a proper photo sharing app, anyway. With Line, I would most likely not even find my photos, because the “Attach photo” button only “looks” into the default camera folder, ignoring any others. Also, if photos are not put into an album, they simply disappear from the chat after a while. Additionally, in WhatsApp I can write captions on each photo, phone calls don’t kill my mobile data allowance etc. etc.
An acquaintance from the US who worked as a programmer in Japan for a while was joking that they had to “revert” their coding style to how it was 10 years earlier. When looking at the design and technology usage of many Japanese websites I’m not surprised.
Not that Line would be exactly a small company… I anyway think that options on a smartphone are limited to rather big corporations, starting with the choice of the OS. Not a concern for me personally, anyway.
In every case, thanks for the interesting feedback and sorry, @57, for taking the discussion away from your initial question. I hope your problem could be solved by now?
Line is easier to use and you can use it simultaneously with a computer.
Whatsapp, you had to choose one or the other (last time I installed it - since deleted).
Have used line on prepaid plans in many countries, no issue. Everytime get a temp sim and the typical tourist 1 month plan, line always worked. Same in taiwan.
Note, security wise line is total garbage. Easily, and often hacked. Same with all the other chinese infiltrated apps.
People ought to start supporting freedom and basic rights…easily done by supporting.easy apps that are essentially the same as all others, such as signal. Its not perfect either, but using it promotes progressive app development rather than constant invasive data mining and privacy infringement.
Line can bog down phones with little storage space. Iphones are notoriously bad because they are shitty low storage devices with no.micro sd slots…so people will quickly be bogged down by line as it does use space. You can clear the cache and all that, but be sure to save anythig important beforehand.
Lines biggest drawback is everything is erased when switching devices. that is also agood thing. Depends on the user. An option would be nice, but not very likely considering the serve r side space required for such an option.
Note that everyone with power can, and does, hack line. Because it is the main app in taiwan, the government, amongst others, are very capable at manipulating it. Take it for what it is. Free unsecure programming.
Line is also a payment processor and a medium for advertising. I don’t think WhatsApp has those functions. Several small businesses use it to communicate or take orders or for networking. I don’t think it’s going to be replaced anytime soon.
And you can both use a prepaid number and have two accounts. Registering two times for the LinePay feature may not be possible since you have to validate your ID to do it.