How to quit facebooks whatsapp when you are forced to use it

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This part has been inspired by me joining a social club. Like many users who join any new social groups, the organisers often have a group chat and often typically will use whatever platform most members are currently on.

This is called the networking effect, where it’s much easier to convince a small minority of members who are not in the group chat to join a platform most members are currently on. Even if something is far better suited that a minority of users use. It would seam more difficult for the organisers of the social group to get a larger number of people to join the group chat the platform is hosted on. After all, who wants to install another messaging app when users already have a few messaging apps and is another thing to look at. This is the reason why some users struggle with getting people to use privacy guides recommended im chat apps.

So, how does one use say WhatsApp when its another account to setup, manage and use?

First off, WhatsApp only registers using phone numbers and is much harder to sign up for or use a disposable number for as there is no phone number aliasing. This is not supposed to be a 1 fits all guide, more of a suggestion of how one can use WhatsApp without needing to hand over everything.

  1. Getting a number, there are a lot of options for this. You can use a free sim card such as from say giffgaff or any provider who can and will send out a free sim card. You may need to pay to activate the account, like with giffgaff, but you only need to top up the smallest amount you can. This part depends on your threat level. I am not too bothered about the provider, as it’s only used for getting the confirmation code. The main threat is from Facebook, as they own WhatsApp. Just don’t lose the sim, and it can be taken out of your phone and swapped around if needed. Other option is smspool as there is no sim card needed, and both options should allow aliasing email upon sign up. I have not tried this option. But maybe the website could be expanded in this area.

  2. Download WhatsApp and then put in the number given by the provider. When setting up, WhatsApp does need access to your contacts for it to set up and work. I could not find away around this. But this can be revoked later in app settings.

  3. If you do not want to keep WhatsApp on your phone, you can set up Beeper. An account is needed and can be self-hosted if you want. You would need to link beeper to WhatsApp as a device and use a code manually.

  4. You can also use WhatsApp in a web browser, however in order to do this, the app is needed to scan the QR code and sign in.

  5. you can then uninstall WhatsApp. but make sure to tick the option to keep data on your phone. This is so that if restoring is needed, then the app can be reinstalled and there would be no need to sign in with a number.

As I have said, this is only a rough idea and everyone has variating thoughts and different needs. This was inspired by this life hacker article I came across some time ago.

I hope this helps others and maybe give some ideas.

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I don’t use whatsapp so I can’t test out this app, but here’s something that might help point 2 of your guide: WA Adder | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

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tbh I personally feel as if people shouldn’t be forced to use something they don’t want to use you know what I mean?
Like if I was the club owner I would ask them to use signal or otherwise have both at my disposal and responding faster on signal, heck even have them an advantage to using signal like giving them the UFO Badge and maybe treating them to something for free like eg. a Cafe
that is if the budget would allow but I think you get the idea.

Nonetheless I do understand in an business environment or something and it’s a cool idea and I think something everyone could agree when it comes to PR over something like what I’m doing which is media players and streaming hardware.

However it’s also where the commuity has to agree on what we place, for example considering the callout for kodi and vlc being insecure, I doubt people would accept beeper as a solution (but we could offer it for the people willing to self host, anywho), if tbh the general advice is to actually compartmentalize but I can see where this isnt exactly a valid option for iOS users and therefore we might or might not need to recommend beeper, it’s complicated.

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How? By taking a firm stance. That’s it. I’m not going to compromise the privacy of my communications, period.

Honestly, that’s a really weak excuse people make. Folks will download any app that benefits them in some way. For example, some people install fast-food apps just to snag discounts. If someone won’t download a messaging app that lets them keep in touch with you, it simply shows they aren’t that interested in staying connected (at least not through that channel).

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I just go with SMS whenever they don’t use a secure messenger. Eventually, I’m almost always able to convince them to use Signal because it has many more features than SMS. If they aren’t willing to talk to me because these are the only methods I use then they’re probably not really worth talking to. And everyone has access to SMS so they can’t really say no without it seeming like they’re the ones being difficult.

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good one, I do the same
Chances are if most members have an Android device, they theoretically have Google Messages RCS on which in turn you can get more secure, end to end encrypted messaging.
Granted this is in the context of needing to use SMS at this point, I think you get the idea.

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