IMO the issue with WhatsApp isn't that it's proprietary. The issue is that it's owned by Meta and it's only free because they slurp down all your private data to target you for ads.
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also there's a new critical vulnerability found every year, that will burn your fucking phone in the best case
But there are no ads in whatsapp?
Right now they collect meta data to map connections to reinforce FB and IG relationships to keep you in their ecosystem. They've been trying to work out to ads like Viber has for years.
They collect your data via WhatsApp and send you adds all over the internet
Not yet, but there don't need to be. As I said, Whatsapp is owned by Meta which is part of a duopoly (along with Google) that controls virtually all ads on the Internet. They slurp all your private data in Whatsapp and use it to target ads to you on every other internet site and every other app where they power the ads. In addition, since Whatsapp has all your contacts, they use that data too. Using what they know about you as part of the ad profile for your mom, your sister, your boyfriend, etc.
That weird blue ai circle I saw them put in the app sure looks like one fat unremovable nag-ad.
Same with the status stuff. They tried turning it into a social media by shoving crap in your face you didn't want and making it impossible to remove. How is that not an ad?
Friends are bloat is truely the final form of linux autism
Yay, I'm at the finish line.
Hey, wanna be friends?
Especially if they are on whatsapp
I mean... Signal?
Signal has done nothing but good for its users and its own reputation, but the feeling of inevitability, that it's impossible for them to avoid enshitification, that mostly people just assume it's a foregone conclusion that signal is now or soon will be, shit.
I like signal, and I still feel the above about it.
I mean, I have similar feelings about Valve, but I continue using the product because I know the most crucial and important contributions to the software space (Proton and OpenXR for Valve, Signal's Client and non-spam-removal server code) has already had source provided to the public, meaning anyone could hard fork and pick up the torch if the current champion falters.
If a company is publicly traded on the stock market, hasn't provided source to safeguard against uncertain leadership, and is integral to your software setup, your dependence on them needs to be scrutinized.
On the other end of the spectrum, if transparency is maintained, even with the inevitable entropy leading to enshittification, their contributions will be preserved and reused. That is the brilliance of providing source of your software.
I hope someone writes the video game equivalent of American Pie when Valve eventually dies.
It helps that it's run by a nonprofit. No investors, no shareholders, no inevitable IPO.
It definitely jelps but then we also have Mozilla and other nonprofits not reaching the community's expectations.
Does Matrix bridge somehow mean I can use something other than WhatsApp to send messages to people who refuse to use an alternative?
The bridge just uses whatsapp web (so you will still "use" it). It works like a dream but you need to trust who ever hosts it as the messages to the bridge are unencrypted. But you dont have to use their app anymore.
This isn't exactly correct. The bridge terminates the service encryption then applies matrix encryption (if used). So there's a moment where the messages exist in an unencrypted state, but that's not the same as bridge -> client being unencrypted.
So yes unencrypted state exists at the bridge for a period of time, but it's not perpetually unencrypted.
Thanks for the explanation.
Bit WhatsApp web only works as a linked device, so you still need WhatsApp on your phone?
Well I activated it and then uninstalled it and since then it works.
I am in the last one. I abandoned it. I dont want anything from Meta.
Sadly I don't have bloat :(
Install me. 👉👈
We can be friends
(´・ᴗ・ ` )
Do you let people or programs access your computer unsupervised? Hell no. But I'm supposed to let another person just freely walk around my home and open cupboards and shit!? How about no!?
I have different friend groups on WhatsApp, Wechat, Signal, Telegram, Zalo, LINE, and Discord. Is it possible to use this "matrix" to replace 2 or more apps?
Yes but for me the bridges weren't too tekitabki. Both Telegram and Signal stopped working. May have been my setup though
That is one of the funkiest ways to spell "reliable" I've ever seen. Were you trying to type in the dark?
Ugh, Apple keyboard set to Estonian. I’m used to SwiftKey which can reliably do 2 languages at once, Apple requires switching manually and I switch languages a LOT. And the iOS 26 Beta killed SwiftKey, it keeps glitching out
I’ll leave it there, it is indeed funky
It’s actually the verb creates/generates in Estonian, 3rd person, being emphasised ("tekitab" with -ki suffix)
I reliably use matrix bridges to chat with ppl on Whatsapp, telegram and Facebook. If you don't want to go into self-hosting I think beeper has a hosted version of it. Unfortunately Whatsapp is the only annoying one, as it forces you to switch on the android version once every two weeks (which you can do in several ways).
There are many more brides, but haven't tried those myself. I'm general the "mautrix" ones tend to be very solid. https://docs.mau.fi/bridges/
if you really think friends are bloatware, you gotta install the newest update to your operating system.
I was able to move roughly ~80 percent of my friend group to Signal. At a certain point, I let everyone know what I was doing and how to find me. Once people realized I ditched every other platform and was fully committed, they joined.
Different people have different tolerances, but if you're consistent, downloading an app isn't such a big ask.
Matrix bride with Whatsapp? I'm listening...
This is too relatable. The moment I see bloatware I uninstall it. I truly feel the same way about "friends." I don't see what purpose they serve other than take up my time and exhaust me.
Damn, that must be a sad existence, I am sorry you feel that way.
If your friends use WhatsApp they're not friends
Install gentoo
I’m on an atomic distro, but rpm-ostree doesn’t have a friends module
I'm literally the Gentoo and I'm happy with it.