this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Privacy

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I hate Facebook but realized I can't uninstall the bloatware Messenger app from my phone since I actually need it for Facebook Marketplace (I usually use it for selling second-hand stuff and looking for other products/services). Also I have plenty of friends there and it might be good to reconnect with some without dealing with the spyware Meta shit.

Also something for WhatsApp would be good as well

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Matrix with some bridges?

I use WhatsApp through it without using the official WA app.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

how?

all my colleagues are on a WhatsApp group for work. I refuse to install WhatsApp, they don't want to try signal or matrix 🀷

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Requirements: A WhatsApp client running on a phone (both physical and virtual phones work)."

:/

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

I have a WA client app running in an Android Emulator that runs for 10 minutes once a week.

It's only needed because WhatsApp wants you to use an official client, otherwise they invalidate any attached sessions.

It's not needed for any actual technical reason.

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

Can you please please please publish a guide on how to set this up and automate it?

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

There are already guides written by the authors of the bridges.

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

Link please? I've been looking but never found something like this.

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

Yep. That's what this scenario solves.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Beeper is indeed Matrix with a WA bridge.

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

https://www.beeper.com

Note that if you use their version, they host the bridge, so you need to trust them.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

SlimSocial for Facebook works, it's just slow.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’d suggest Signal Messenger as a alternative for WhatsApp. It’s an easy enough switch for most people and therefore I’m my opinion more practical. I was able to convince - over time - most of my peers to move over and could then cut off and delete WhatsApp.

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

It's worth mentioning that Facebook's/Meta's messenger apps use the Signal tech anyway.

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

If privacy is your goal you'll probably achieve nothing or very little unless you fully delete your entire Facebook account. If you seek to improve your security maybe you should consider accesing Facebook only through a compartmentalized profile on your phone (CalyxOS and GrapheneOS allow for this not sure if regular android does as well). By creating a profile only for the privacy introusive social media you can't avoid you can at least limit the data they can acces from the rest of the things on your phone. And by accesing it only on your phone and not pc you can also limit the number of devices you expose. Better on your phone rather on your pc since pcs don't have good permition management at the OS level typically.