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.
Auto reply with Watomatic and always real reply late on WhatsApp:
🤖 Automated Reply 💬 I reply faster on example.org ⁉️ WhatsApp is anti-libre software. We do NOT control it. It withholds a libre software license text file, like GPL.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.
This and the automated reply achieve precisely nothing you’re setting out to do. People won’t register in a service or install a new app solely to talk to you.
Is there a gun to your head? If the answer is no, then you’re not being forced to use it. And so you only think you have to use it, because it would be more inconvenient not to do so, but you can make that choice. I don’t use it and never will. And I will simply tell people that if they ask.
Some/most places outside the USA heavily rely on WhatsApp for communication. This is like saying “you dont need to be able to talk with your friends, family, or employer”
I have actually stopped talking to both friends and family because they refused to use a more privacy-preserving platform.
Well if you’re in a country that uses WhatsApp as a main communication platform, then either you use it too or you don’t talk to your friends, family and more.
I have dropped friends, family, and more in order to use more private communications platforms. And if they ever do join those platforms, I will talk to them again.
