this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2024

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WhatsApp running through android-translation-layer (no container!) on Linux desktop (lemmy.kde.social)

submitted 2 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

63 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Since https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1gdhy7u/experimental_flathub_release_of_newpipe_on_linux/ got a bit of traction yesterday, this is WhatsApp straight from Meta running on Linux desktop using android-translation-layer.

android-translation-layer (ATL) is a Wine-like approach to run Android applications on Linux. Rather than running an Android container like for example Waydroid does this instead implements the Android API. Note that right now it's very much work in progress and almost no app will work yet, but the fact that they have apps like Newpipe and WhatsApp running already is very promising!

Join the Matrix chat at #android-translation-layer:matrix.org and follow along!

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Looks fantastic but how much are apps sandboxed? I don't want WhatsApp to see all my files for example.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Like Newpipe someone could make a Flatpak of it (if there's demand)

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It seems like a dream come true for Linux phones.

[–] [email protected] 84 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I can feel it in the air. This is going to take off just like how wine and proton took off. We are going to go through another "Linux gaming" rush all over again and this shit is going to be fun. Let's go!!!

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Wine was first released in 1993. I hope our children are there to see the take off.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

Yeah but I imagine porting a JVM and an API using open source code is much easier than reversing the Windows API.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I don't think you should compare the two progresses. Technology is much better now. So, things will definitely move much faster than they did back in the 90s.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

There is slightly more openness to androids layers than the win32 layers as well.

I still remember symlinking to binaries in my windows system folder back in the late 90s to be able to run office 95 under Linux. (The MSFT system files permitted some things to work properly that just didn't with the wine provided libraries back then)

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

I definitely hope so, so far it's looking promising!

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (3 children)

and i cant even get Whatsapp to run because my phones bootloader is unlocked... life is unfair

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

I use a phone with an unlocked bootloader too, but I only got a warning and pressed ok

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Life fair. It's only trying to help you not have to use whatsapp.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

yeah you see, the issue is, i need Whatsapp for my family, friends and work. i'd rather not use WhatsApp but i aint got a choice (yet, afaik Whatsapp will be forced to work with other apps)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

It sure is a popular app regionally. Lots of people in different countries I know use it interchangeably at this point: when they say text, they mean whatsap. I get it.

But I will not support Meta, there is a line. I don't need family or friends that cannot use open source alternative. Worse case, I just drop back to sms.

But work requires it? Or you happen to have work that needs to support many customers? I suppose I could see that, but work would then be a completely separate phone only for that purpose.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

you see i am an apprentice so i don't have a work phone yet, but i need Whatsapp to communicate with my superiors and all

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

Yep, you gotta do what you gotta do. I could never blame anyone for that.

Then when you are your own boss you can do it your way!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

why not? i use an unlocked phone and run it just fine

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

WhatsApp just says i dont have the official version, even tho i got the apk litterally from their own damn website

[–] [email protected] 2 points 22 hours ago

Apparently some apps ask Google Play if it's an official android OS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Are you in Brazil?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

no, i live in Germany

[–] [email protected] 63 points 2 days ago

Fascinating stuff. I'm glad we're entering this new era of Linux application compatibility! And all through the honorable work of developers who are doing stuff just for the fun of it.

[–] [email protected] 92 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I hope this makes it easier to do TLS sniffing and security research on Android apps. A lot of developers seem to rely on no one simply looking at how much information is exposed in the APIs apps use. Currently because it's much more difficult to sniff Android apps, a lot of privacy/security issues are not raised.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Can't it be reverse engineered? It's java bytecode.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 2 days ago

It's difficult

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

As long as it's installed on a device you control it's pretty easy to sniff TLS traffic from an Android application, even if they're pinning certs. I do this all the time for work. Frida makes it extremely easy, even giving you the ability to edit boringssl if something important is happening in native code. I've had to do this a couple times.

If you don't have root you'll have to recompile the application though which could matter if you need the signature to not change, but that isn't a common requirement.

It'd be nice to have a better way to test though; I've wanted to check out Waydroid. Some coworkers just use an emulator which works great if it doesn't need specific hardware.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

There's PCAPdroid mitm for tls.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 days ago

This Android Translation Layer looks amazing for Linux phones. Waydroid is already pretty awesome, but it's just running full fat Android on top of your Linux system and has all the limitations that brings (poor to no notification integration with the host system, poor integration of filesystem, extra resource usage for all of the Android services, issues with power management and suspend, inability to change resolution on the fly, poor integration with host onscreen keyboard, etc). I've used Waydroid on postmarketOS and it's nice to be able to have Android apps available, but it almost feels like still carrying around a second phone, just that second phone is virtual. Something like ATL sounds like it properly integrates Android apps into the host OS. I need to give this a try soon.

[–] [email protected] 76 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Should have been called AITL (AITL Is a Translation Layer)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

AITLNGNU AITL is a translation layer and not GNU that is not Unix

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Very cool. I'll stick with a WhatsApp Matrix bridge so I don't have to install a Meta app, though.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

You still have to install WhatsApp though, since it requires activity on your account (on the app) every 14 days.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago

Yea, get around that with sand boxing, but will probably switch to the android API layer now that it works with WhatsApp

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Would anyone post a quick guide on how to run WhatsApp l using atl?

There is some documentation on https://gitlab.com/android_translation_layer/android_translation_layer/-/blob/master/README.md and I am rather sure it's the right project, but some sort of installer would be nice. I think installing all those dependencies by hand is not a good solution in the long run. Wasn't there supposed to be a flatpack container to be downloaded somewhere?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago

I think installing all those dependencies by hand is not a good solution in the long run.

Well, no. "In the long run" this gets packaged by distributions so you don't have to compile anything. Right now it's available for Alpine Linux and there is an AUR package for Arch.

Wasn’t there supposed to be a flatpack container to be downloaded somewhere?

There is a Flatpak (no c in that name!) base app available, and Newpipe has been packaged with that as a Flatpak, see https://flathub.org/apps/net.newpipe.NewPipe Ideally we get more stuff packaged up once more works but I don't think it's feasible to repackage everything out there so for a lot of applications you'll just have to have a locally installed ATL outside of Flatpak.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago

Interesting, I could sandbox each app in a debian vm and remote control it from my phone with sunshine. Good luck trying to steal my personnal data devs

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Amazing stuff, having Whatsapp on desktop linux would be nice.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm curious, doesn't WhatsApp require a phone number to be attached to an account? As in, I thought activating it doesn't work on devices without a SIM card?

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I haven't used it in a while, but I think it just sends you an SMS with a code that you can enter manually, so yeah it works on devices without a SIM

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Exactly. I created my whatsapp account in waydroid like this.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago (5 children)

...but it can't run both in your phone and in your computer, right? For that you need the desktop app (which is Windows only) or the web app, which linux apps encapsulate right?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 days ago

I've never tried having the app on multiple devices - I specifically didn't want it on my phone - but it's worth a try. I use whatsapp web in firefox, and only start waydroid when I need to log in again. The third party linux apps just load whatsapp web in electron or something.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Interesting! The UI looks like it uses GTK for drawing widgets?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago

It does!

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