I have to use Whatsapp, unfortunately. Are there any good alternatives to the default app on Android?
I’m worried about all the data it shares with Meta. I denied all permissions but this makes it less convenient, and the app probably still sends over the data that available without them.
I only know you can use it via Matix with a bridge, but the setup is quite involved, not just an App on your phone. Plus the metadata is still shared with Meta, like who you talked to and when, which they can build a profile and a social graph.
This is true.
I use WA via the Matrix bridge. WA requires the official mobile app (not web) to connect every 14 days, so you need to have it on a separate profile, a spare phone or do a complicated Android emulator setup… To be usable you need to allow the WA app access to your contacts, which results in Meta getting just about the same metadata from you it would via using the official app.
If I wasn’t using Matrix for other things like notifications from servers, I wouldn’t bother with this. The only upside is having only one app for messaging. The bridge system itself works really well, nothing bad to say there.
Wait, so a normal stock Waydroid/Bliss/Android-x86 wouldn’t work? They need some extra settings?
It might work, I haven’t tried. But I think that’s also quite complicated for most people.
I’ve also heard quite a few people getting their number banned by only running in an emulator. If it’s an older WA account, it’s probably safe, but I wouldn’t do it on a fresh number.
I used a setup like that, but there were 2 things that I didn’t like
When was this?
I’ve been using WA through a matrix bridge over a year, and I don’t think I’ve opened the WA app since setting it up. I do have to keep it installed, and allow it to run in the background.
It, or my matrix app, doesn’t seem to significantly drain my battery more than normal.
Is the once every two weeks thing an old requirement? I’ve never needed to deal with something like that.
This summer? I disabled the WA app on my phone, though, so there was no background activity.
My matrix app (an Element fork) had several bridges and multiple chats, I feel like they were all synching in the background. I haven’t noticed that when I was at home, but when I was camping, battery going from 100% in the evening down to 70% in the morning was a problem.
How did that even work at all? All activity goes THROUGH the WA app. WhatsApp only allows one real client to be connected, all other clients (other devices with the app linked to the first device, bridges, whatsapp web sessions, etc. they all still go through your “main device”). If you turn your “main” phone with the whatsapp app off, for example, all others stop working.
Looking it up, the bridge connection expires without activity at least every fourteen days to keep your account active in general. As long as you allow the app to run (which it has to do anyway, because that’s how WA works) it’ll do that on it’s own I think, no need to open it every fourteen days. Or at least, I’ve never had to. My bridge connection is literally over a year old, and I’ve definitely gone months without opening the actual WA app in that time.
I run my own instance and bridges.
I use fluffychat on mobile. Though I also have element installed as fluffy doesn’t support all message types, and has some bugs despite the nicer (imo) UI.
As for the battery drain of element, that’s something you’ll have to look into yourself. One of my own qualms with matrix atm is that there’s no really excellent mobile client for it… It’s all kinda meh. There’s element which is feature complete but has a bunch of issues, or there’s stuff like fluffy, which is nicer, but not feature complete, and still has issues.
Look up “Beeper”. It’s not about privacy, rather about convenience. They run bridges for you. Nothing went through the main app, but I had to authorize Beeper through WA as a separate session. It would die in 2 weeks with WA disabled, like I said, but I guess if I kept WA enabled this wouldn’t have happened.
Edit: Something has changed. This used to be true. Somewhere along the years WA has significantly changed how their systems work. I can only assume they buffer activity for 14 days and somehow defer the synchronization of content with the main client, because all the same limitations of devices being subordinate to a main session apply.
The most mind-boggling is the alteration that multiple client devices are now allowed, but also not really.
And they still require that user history be monolithically stored by the user, on their MOBILE device. And the only way to have a backup is through their backup solution, and god-forbid you press the wrong button when setting up a new device, because not restoring when the one chance is given, means everything is gone forever.
The main reason I use whatsapp via a bridge, is to have my message history stored on a proper server, so I don’t have to do the restore backup BS whenever I switch devices. I just re-link the bridge and go.
The official app doesn’t need to be running constantly. It only needs to connect to Meta’s servers once every 14 days.
The Mautrix-Whatsapp bridge will send a notification couple of days in advance to warn you if the main device hasn’t been active.