Whats your solution for WhatsApp?

[s710]

When trying to switch to UT, one of the blockers for most people could be the messenger apps, especially WhatsApp.

I personally will be unable to pass on WhatsApp, since I have too many contacts there, who are not willing to use other messengers. In addition, basically every organization of group events (birthdays, vacations, etc.) takes place in WhatsApp groups.
This forces me to keep on using WhatsApp, although I would like to replace it.

Now when making the switch to UT, this would mean I will need some sort of replacement, or ways to access my WhatsApp chats by other means.

Currently, I am aware of 3 possible solutions:

• Use WhatsApp web
• Use waydroid + WhatsApp native
• Use some sort of bridging (e.g. matrix)

I have tried all 3 of them, and found that all 3 of them are sub-par, and rather a pain to use than good.

• WhatsApp web is slow, not a real app, and not feature-complete.

• Waydroid can't be kept running 24/7 since it consumes too much battery. Also, its not (yet?) very well integrated, means you will always have a full android window.

• Matrix bridge works in a way, I have this running on a private home server for over a year. While it suddenly stopped syncing (for no obvious reason) during several months, and suddenly continued to sync (for no obvious reason), it basically allows me to chat with WhatsApp contacts using a matrix messenger (currently using Cinny). However, it has a whole bunch of disadvantages; matrix + bridge setup is overly complex, their documentation is severly lacking/incomplete as well as confusing, matrix will update year-old chats every now and then with some meaningless events ("Your security code with XXX changed"), audio-messages don't work at all.

So the question is, what is your solution for using WhatsApp on UT, and how happy are you with your solution?
(And please, for the love of god, don't spam this topic with "Just don't use WhatsApp" and the likes).

One thing that actually came to my mind recently was about the recently introduced European Union guideline for big messengers to force them to provide interoperability between messengers. E.g. WhatsApp must connect to Telegram, to allow WhatsApp chats within Telegram and vice versa.
Would this be a potential approach which was viable for UT also? So imagine we had an official UT messenger, and we could integrate with WhatsApp directly, this means we would have a native WhatsApp client? What you guys think about this?

[arubislander]

@s710 said in Whats your solution for WhatsApp?:

... matrix will update year-old chats every now and then with some meaningless events ("Your security code with XXX changed")

I just wanted to point out that the above is not a failing of matrix or the bridge. The official WhatsApp client on Android also gives these notifications whenever the user on the other end does something that causes their security code to change, i.e. reinstalling the app, installing on a new device, actually manually triggering a security code change.

So imagine we had an official UT messenger, and we could integrate with WhatsApp directly, this means we would have a native WhatsApp client? What you guys think about this?

I suspect any such client would only work as good as the Matrix bridge works now. Even if the different IM providers are compelled by European law to provide interoperability, that will simply be watered down to the lowest common denominator: text messaging. Calls, audio and other such features could still be confined to the official clients.

[mihael]

I use daily whatsapp on my OP 5T Focal Stable.

I used to use https://open-store.io/app/alefnode.whatsweb but recently whatsapp changed something in its design and I can't use it anymore - until whatsweb will receive an update.

But I use waydroid with the native android app and it works well... I doesn't use much battery, except when I make a video call - then it plunges. Also, sometimes I need to reboot my phone because people can't hear me during a video call.

This setup, combined with Whatsapp in the browser on my computer, takes me through the day.

[ManuelBoe]

Waydroid + APK is so far the best option to use WhatsApp on Ubuntu Touch.

If you don't like downloading and installing updates manually, you can install Whatsapp via an appstore like Aptoide for example.

[DPITTI]

It would definitely be better to use a native app for WhatsApp on UT. However, I think with UT you will still have to rely on Waydroid as there is no better option.

[Dunbrokin]

@ManuelBoe Thank you for that tip....but Aptoid did not install as it is not click.

[Dunbrokin]

@arubislander I tried to open Calendar in Waydroid,,,,,but I notice that the time in Google in Waydroid is not the same as the time on the phone outside Waydroid Google. Though in UB the time is set to be automatically got from the system. The time is different by 1 hour...which may be the summer/winter time difference. But there does not seem to be a way in Waydroid Google to change that??

Thanks for asking this question. I would love to find a workable solution to the WhattsApp question.

[arubislander]

@Dunbrokin sorry, I do not use waydroid.

[Dunbrokin]

@ManuelBoe When I try to download WhattsApp APK in Waydroid I get a Webpage not available message!!!! Is there a tutorial on the best way to do it?

[Dunbrokin]

@s710 Has anybody tried using Webber with WhatsApp?....I cannot get it to work.

[TheBird]

@Dunbrokin I use the link under the picture of the Googleplaystore. https://www.whatsapp.com/android/

[domubpkm]

@Dunbrokin I don't use WhatsApp but with Webber, in principle any web app should be able to be built. The problem mainly comes from finding the right URL pattern(s) to add.

[arubislander]

@domubpkm sometimes just the right URL patterns are not enough. Sometimes you need extra JavaScript to coax the website into a more mobile friendly operation. I believe this to be the case with WhatsApp web.

[domubpkm]

@arubislander said in Whats your solution for WhatsApp?:

Sometimes you need extra JavaScript to coax the website

Not meet this in my case. But maybe you could open a feature request about that in webber repo if something can be implement.

[arubislander]

@domubpkm said in Whats your solution for WhatsApp?:

But maybe you could open a feature request about that in webber repo if something can be implement.

This is not something that is an issue for me, I am just relaying collected and remembered information.

Also I don't that feature would be a good fit for Webber. If one needs to add JavaScript, one would probably be better off writing a proper (web)app.

[mihael]

I managed to use Webber to load web.whatsapp.com by using the following custom user agent:

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/75.0.3770.142 Safari/537.36

• and I got that from the sources of Whatsweb app.

[Dunbrokin]

@s710 I downloaded the Whattsapp Web app from the online OpenStore using Morph to find and download it. I then installed it on my OP6 UBports (20.04) phone. It works after a fashion, it has not been updated for a while (April 23). It is hard to get it to adapt to the phone screen. I would probably work on a "as necessary" basis....but not really suitable for regular daily use - that is just my opinion and I have only tried it on my phone.....but it does actually work.

[L-01141]

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