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    Idea for WhatApp on ubports

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      • B Offline
        bq4.5
        last edited by

        The only reason why i need to have an extra android phone is whatsapp, mostly because of work, they use whatsapp groups and i am always forced to carry 2 phones.

        If somehow ubports can get whatsapp and a high end phone like oneplus 5 then i would burn andriods phones.

        G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote -1
        • G Offline
          guru @bq4.5
          last edited by

          @bq4.5 Re/ about have to use What's Ape: I have two sons, 11 and 7 years old, which play for some years in a local sports association handball. This year the association communicated that they would create What's Ape groups for the communication of sports events, where to play next, against which other team, etc. I mailed to them: I have e-mail, SMS, Telegram, phone and if they would insist in What's Ape I would cancel the participation of my boys in this association because I do not have and do not want to have What's Ape.

          The communication stays by email.

          B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • te-onlineT Offline
            te-online
            last edited by

            @UKPhil said in Idea for WhatApp on ubports:

            From my understanding of the issues it is all due to the fast that facebook will not publish their whatsapp api's thus controlling the apps that use their service. If they did we could make something up. I might be wrong there so if I am please feel free to correct me.

            Yes, you are absolutely right. This is not about the missing ability to create such an app, but about restrictions on Facebook's side that make it impossible to create a client app without reverse engineering an official client. At least this is my current state of knowledge. Hence my suggestion of the cumbersome, yet working, usage of the webapp together with a โ€œserver deviceโ€.

            @guru said in Idea for WhatApp on ubports:

            The communication stays by email.

            And I'm guessing this didn't make you the most popular Dad in the group of parents ๐Ÿ˜‰ You're absolutely right to do this and it is very idealistic and admirable โ€“ don't get me wrong! There is just the factย that WhatsApp is very convinient for many people, because they use it all the time and so they try to fit it to every use case they can find โ€“ and Facebook also tries to make the app adapt to these new use cases. Whereas you and me, not even โ€œusersโ€ (โ€œ...and what is this Telegram, by the way?โ€), explaining the drawbacks and privacy implications of WhatsApp sound highly outlandish to the ears of many WhatsApp users.

            โ€“ Thomas

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • R Offline
              revoltevidente
              last edited by

              Hi! I'm also interested in making a whatsapp app for this OS. I tried Telegram instead but none of my friends have it on their phone.. However I try to convince them to change their habits ๐Ÿ˜‰
              I just start with ubports and have installed Ubuntu onto Nexus 5 (hammerhead). There are minor bugs but it works pretty well ๐Ÿ˜‰
              Thanks to the dev!

              Ubuntu is the way / Nexus 5

              U 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • B Offline
                bq4.5 @guru
                last edited by

                @guru , there is a big difference between school/sport and your work. I can't tell all of them use telegram or else. Maybe in few years ๐Ÿ˜›

                G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • G Offline
                  guru @bq4.5
                  last edited by

                  @bq4.5 I can not imagine that your work contract requires you MUST have a mobile device with WhatsApp, and if so, I'd not sign such contract.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                  • U Offline
                    UKPhil @revoltevidente
                    last edited by

                    @revoltevidente you have made a very valid point here about the contacts you have. This is what I see will always be the issue if we as an is do not have a what'sapp app for our is.

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • O Offline
                      oli.sax
                      last edited by oli.sax

                      If building a third-party app is not possible because Whatsapp policies don't allow it, why don't we emulate the official app on UbuntuTouch ? With AnBox for example, that we'll hopefully run once UT is upgraded to Xenial...

                      -- Olivier

                      flohackF 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • flohackF Offline
                        flohack @oli.sax
                        last edited by

                        @oli.sax Anbox is not even Alpha stage, its a design study / proof of concept. The author seems not to actively work on it, sorry to say...

                        BR

                        My languages: ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡น ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

                        WLBIW O 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • WLBIW Offline
                          WLBI @flohack
                          last edited by

                          @Flohack
                          Yes, since month no changes in the code. https://github.com/anbox/anbox
                          Looks like it's a dead project.

                          Bq Aquaris E 4.5 & Bq M10 FHD
                          My English YouTube eDrive channel: https://goo.gl/UFVh4S
                          My German Linux channel:
                          https://www.youtube.com/WarumLinuxBesserIst

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • O Offline
                            oli.sax @flohack
                            last edited by

                            @Flohack Sad to hear that, but you are right there are no more recent development... Same for SFdroid https://github.com/sfdroid : it looks like the development abruptly halted in May...

                            W 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • U Offline
                              UKPhil
                              last edited by

                              Funny enough today i was talking talking to a developer I know who also uses Ubuntu at home and I asked him why he does not have an Ubuntu Touch phone. His reply was simple there are some apps he uses that are not available on it. The main one being WhatsApp. This is a shame as we need people like him to help move the is along.

                              G 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • G Offline
                                guru @UKPhil
                                last edited by

                                UKPhil, The question if or if not someone can organize his/her life w/o What's Ape, is somehow leading away from the real problem: There is no specification available about the protocol to talk to this service and due to the lack of this, there is no OpenSource client. And what the available closed app for What's Ape is doing "for" you (or better, against you) is not known. That's why I will not use it and will not use any device where this could not be removed from.

                                U 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • U Offline
                                  UKPhil @guru
                                  last edited by

                                  @guru as already said, I do not care if we have it or not as I do not use it myself.I just wish more people would consider trying Telegram.

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • W Offline
                                    wilfridd @oli.sax
                                    last edited by wilfridd

                                    @oli.sax , Flohack & WLBI

                                    At the EoD , Anbox wouldn't be a sustainable solution to run WA. Some month ago, I managed to make WA successfully work on Anbox/Xenial...but after a couple of weeks, it stopped suddenly... I upgraded the WA apk, reinstalled...nothing... After lots of retries I got an error message saying approx. "You have a custom Andoid rom installed, WA doesn't support...blabla..." .... End of the story.

                                    I totally agreed with all opinions and all that has been said on WA...
                                    Nowadays I some times use LoquiIM, which finally (voodoo magic?) stop displaying the sadly famous "decrypt errorโ€œ message after about 2.5 month...

                                    W.

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • G Offline
                                      gnu-mobile
                                      last edited by gnu-mobile

                                      This UBports forum messenger topic is definitely of your interest.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • S Offline
                                        Shea83
                                        last edited by

                                        Hi, in the meantime has someone tried if now Antbox can perform well WA?
                                        ..O if other ways exist?

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • M Offline
                                          marinescu.radu
                                          last edited by marinescu.radu

                                          Hello!

                                          I know this topic is quite old, but I just came about it and I was wondering...
                                          If there is a WhatsApp version for Windows, would it be possible to use that and run it with wine?
                                          Maybe we could sandbox it somehow, and this method could apply to other apps too, effectively mirroring the Windows Store, if we could block/control all the access to the device and run them securely.

                                          So, would wine work in general? I haven't tried the os yet, but I'm about to. I have to backup the data on my phone first. And loosing contact with people on WhatsApp was the first thing that came to mind. I'll have to find a second phone now...

                                          Edit: Also, I remember reading about a developer who reverse-engineered the WhatsApp client, releasing a desktop version and he ended up with a law suite against him. Are there any legal grounds to that? Besides using their trademark, I can't see anything illegal about it. It seems similar to the "fake" ink printer cartridges. I believe a law suite was won in favor of the third-party manufacturers.

                                          LakotaubpL 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • LakotaubpL Offline
                                            Lakotaubp @marinescu.radu
                                            last edited by

                                            @marinescu-radu This forum is for the Ubuntu Touch operating system for mobile devices. which is now maintained by UBports and is nothing to do with Windows or the Ubuntu desktop OS Thank You. sorry if I have miss read your question.

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