I stopped using WhatsApp for the foreseeable future because they are implementing more and more DRM (Digital Restrictions Management) anti-control nonsense disguised as "privacy" and "data protection".
First of all, I am a believer in "if you hit send, you should stand behind what you said". For this reason, I am opposed to the possibility of unsending and editing messages after sending, because it allows for the falsification of the conversation history. No one should be able to remotely alter existing data on my phone. If it's on my phone, it's my property. Simple as that.
Very few times, even I admittedly sent something I preferred I could have "unsaid", but this is by far outweighed by the times I was annoyed that someone unsent or falsified messages they sent to me. I like having the peace of mind that something sent to me can not be tampered with after the fact.
WhatsApp blocks screenshots on temporary messages and, since 2024, on profile pictures and profile pages too. Here is my opinion on that.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp has added an "advanced chat privacy" anti-feature that lets anyone disable chat exporting by the other participant. Now you are at the mercy of the other participant to allow exporting. This was the final nail in the coffin. One of the last-standing major reasons to use WhatsApp was eliminated.
Chat exporting lets you export the entire chat history and optionally media attachments into a ZIP file, and this can now be remotely disabled by the other participant. There are legitimate reasons for exporting chats such as backups in a human-readable and non-proprietary format, pre-empting erroneous account terminations (yes, they do happen), searching using external tools, and preserving memories, including with deceased people. And if you don't trust someone to keep something secret, you shouldn't send it in the first place, just as you would not tell them in real life.
In addition to this, WhatsApp's developers are threatening to soon block screenshots on chats with "advanced chat privacy" turned on.
I think they will eventually do. The only thing that is holding them back is probably that this would annoy too many people and they would have "hell on earth", and rightly so. Unfortunately, on mainstream Android and iOS, end users are at the mercy of app developers to allow screenshots. This violation of your ownership must not be normalized. I believe app developers have no business deciding what device owners can or can't do with their property.
WhatsApp is also taking technical measures to try to prevent running on rooted phones to force users to accept their sugar-coated DRM nonsense (source), therefore rooted users have to spoof WhatsApp into thinking it is running on a non-rooted phone. Then WhatsApp's next enforced update will find a way to detect this. This will turn into an indefinite game of whack-a-mole. I'm not in for that.
Oh, by the way, frequent enforced updates are another reason against using WhatsApp. WhatsApp holds all your conversations hostage until you install their update. They could have made outdated versions read-only, letting you access existing conversations but not send anything until you update, but instead they chose to lock you out entirely.
What if you are in a location with no internet connection and unable to download the update but you need urgent access to a conversation? What if your device is suddenly no longer supported? You lose all your conversations.
[I hereby release this post into the public domain, CC0 1.0, excluding quotes. This means you can reuse this text without needing to credit me. You can credit me as a courtesy if you want to, but you don't have to.]
First of all, I am a believer in "if you hit send, you should stand behind what you said". For this reason, I am opposed to the possibility of unsending and editing messages after sending, because it allows for the falsification of the conversation history. No one should be able to remotely alter existing data on my phone. If it's on my phone, it's my property. Simple as that.
Very few times, even I admittedly sent something I preferred I could have "unsaid", but this is by far outweighed by the times I was annoyed that someone unsent or falsified messages they sent to me. I like having the peace of mind that something sent to me can not be tampered with after the fact.
WhatsApp blocks screenshots on temporary messages and, since 2024, on profile pictures and profile pages too. Here is my opinion on that.
Earlier this year, WhatsApp has added an "advanced chat privacy" anti-feature that lets anyone disable chat exporting by the other participant. Now you are at the mercy of the other participant to allow exporting. This was the final nail in the coffin. One of the last-standing major reasons to use WhatsApp was eliminated.
Chat exporting lets you export the entire chat history and optionally media attachments into a ZIP file, and this can now be remotely disabled by the other participant. There are legitimate reasons for exporting chats such as backups in a human-readable and non-proprietary format, pre-empting erroneous account terminations (yes, they do happen), searching using external tools, and preserving memories, including with deceased people. And if you don't trust someone to keep something secret, you shouldn't send it in the first place, just as you would not tell them in real life.
In addition to this, WhatsApp's developers are threatening to soon block screenshots on chats with "advanced chat privacy" turned on.
(source)Cyber Security News said:
I think they will eventually do. The only thing that is holding them back is probably that this would annoy too many people and they would have "hell on earth", and rightly so. Unfortunately, on mainstream Android and iOS, end users are at the mercy of app developers to allow screenshots. This violation of your ownership must not be normalized. I believe app developers have no business deciding what device owners can or can't do with their property.
WhatsApp is also taking technical measures to try to prevent running on rooted phones to force users to accept their sugar-coated DRM nonsense (source), therefore rooted users have to spoof WhatsApp into thinking it is running on a non-rooted phone. Then WhatsApp's next enforced update will find a way to detect this. This will turn into an indefinite game of whack-a-mole. I'm not in for that.
Oh, by the way, frequent enforced updates are another reason against using WhatsApp. WhatsApp holds all your conversations hostage until you install their update. They could have made outdated versions read-only, letting you access existing conversations but not send anything until you update, but instead they chose to lock you out entirely.
What if you are in a location with no internet connection and unable to download the update but you need urgent access to a conversation? What if your device is suddenly no longer supported? You lose all your conversations.
[I hereby release this post into the public domain, CC0 1.0, excluding quotes. This means you can reuse this text without needing to credit me. You can credit me as a courtesy if you want to, but you don't have to.]
