Hi everyone. Wondering if WhatsApp is in production in Mudita’s Open Source. I am relying on it for a non-profit organization I do tons of volunteering for – a global organization that relies on this exclusively for communication between volunteers across several continents and departments. I wonder if anyone on the Open Source side of things has worked on something like this. I’ve considered keeping my phone and using it just for WhatsApp, too. Still not sure what the solution is for this one, but would love to hear if anyone has plans to get WhatsApp on Mudita (unfortunately Facebook-owned now, womp womp womp…)
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@moon9river Whatsapp on Mudita- that’s a very interesting concept. I don’t think we would personally endorse that since Whatsapp IS a FB product & they’ve had their share of MAJOR privacy faux pas in the past. WhatsApp technically says personal messages are protected by end-to-end encryption, but it has for years openly collected certain user data to share with Facebook. Even if someone was able to adapt Whatsapp to work with MuditaOS, they would be faced with the limitation of data transfer. WhatsApp works with internet data & Mudita Pure, by design, is an offline phone.
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i agree no whatsapp ever on this device
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Thanks for the info!
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From your response I get the impression WhatsApp integration is off the table for technical reasons related to data transfers, not philosophical issues with FB’s operating practices. However, based the information on the functionality of the Pure it has a data connection. So wouldn’t be more accurate to say FB doesn’t align with the values of mudita, so development of WhatApp would be extremely unlikely.
I ask because if it is truly a technical limitation of the pure then encrypted messaging would not be possible. As I have read through other posts I have got the impression encrypted messaging is possible and not out of line with the value proposition of the pure.
Can you please clarify if encrypted messaging is a feature the pure will/may have, or if it is a technical/philosophical improbability? Thanks.
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Why would encrypted messaging be a philosophical improbability?
I will do my best to explain what I mean. Mudita make design choices based on the value proposition they are seeking to create. For example there are companies that sell phones that don’t use a data connection, but not because the hardware won’t support it. These companies don’t include a data at a software level because of philosophy of extreme simplicity. Mudita may have similar philosophy of extreme simplicity that would prevent the use of a data connection in the phone despite no technical hardware limitation. This philosophy would eliminate the possibility of encrypted messaging due to lack of data to send the messages.
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@ken Thanks for your question. Mudita Pure has the ability to tether with a cable when you need an internet connection to your computer, however, right now, it does not have the ability to use data within the phone itself. Therefore, even if someone managed to sideload Whatsapp on the MuditaOS, I’m not sure it would function without an active, constant data connection. Additionally, Mudita Pure was specifically designed not to have third-party apps. That’s the ethos behind the phone- less apps, less disruptions, more time offline. However, since the MuditaOS is open source, users are free to contribute and customize their own experience- on their end. Finally, since Whatsapp is a FACEBOOK product, it would not be our first-choice as a messenger app- just from a perspective of privacy. WhatsApp collects a lot of data about you, such as your phone number, information about your location, your user habits, and your contacts . WhatsApp claims it only uses this information to improve the user experience. However, since it’s a FB product, I’m not really sure I believe them.
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WhatsApp now works entirely independently from your phone, so once you’ve established an account on your phone and set it up on your computer or tablet, you’ll keep being able to send & receive messages on the computer, even after you put your sim into the Mudita Pure.
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this is very interesting. This also appears to be the same for Signal (I’m on a Blackberry right now, and using a Signal account I set up on my iPhone on desktop).
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Where did you read that? Afaik your phone, with Whatsapp app, needs to be close to your computer so that it can sync.
Without that I don’t think it will work indefinitely.
"If you’re unable to send or receive messages on WhatsApp from your phone, then you won’t be able to use WhatsApp Web or Desktop on your computer. "
This info is old. There’s a new version of WhatsApp desktop that works independently. I already tried putting my sim in a LightPhone and WhatsApp (and signal, as someone else said) both kept working on iOS and desktop. So, did iMessage, if messages were sent via the appleID email, rather than phone number.
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@bksparrow I used an old smartphone to set up whatsapp with the phone number of the sim card that’s in my Mudita Pure. I got the text message verification on my Mudita Pure & verified it & logged into the web.whatsapp.com site. Then I just turned off that old smartphone & the whatsapp web works. YAY! Thanks for this.
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Occassionally you might have to pull that phone to reconnect the service, but apart from that it is a good solution. Hopefully they’ll add a similar implementation to Signal sometimes in the future.
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interesting. FYI, it’s the same came for Signal (which I’m currently using on my desktop, having set it up with an active SIM on my smartphone, before putting that in my current/temporary dumbphone - my BlackBerry 
)
I read on the WhatsApp website that you need to access your smartphone every 14 days to keep it active, since you posted this 16 days ago I was wondering if you’ve had to re-activate it yet?
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I don’t get this. Mudita Pure is a phone that contradicts the addiction of being online all the time. Why would you even suggest WhatsApp (or all other social media) on this kind of device (albeit tethered or not), if the sole purpose of Mudita Pure is to be a mindful and offline?
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