Whatsapp and Advanced Privacy

Dear all,

I have been using Fairphones with eOS for alongtime, now a FP4. As I did not find a relevant post in this community, may I ask you the following:

How effective is eOS’ Advanced Privacy against Whatsapp’s tracking?

Unfortunately, me, too, will have to install it due to some communities who are not willing to use Signal or Threema instead. But I am reluctant…

Thanks for a hint.

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

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Please see also here…

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Thanks. Ergo no wazzapp :slight_smile:

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Hello Björn,

I created an additional user account / work profile on my phone and installed Whatsapp there.
Before starting the app I went to the App authorizations and disallowed the wifi access, hoping to prevent Whatsapp from getting my and my neighbours wifi ssids and guessing my position. I allowed the mobile data…
Then I started it without granting any authorizations. I used a cheep pre paid sim for registration. And I think I allowed the access to my contacts in the empty address book of the separate user account to get rid of annoying questions.
Of course you need to ask any person, which you need to get in contact, not to save your real name into his address book.
With this approach you need to poll the new messages by login into your separate user account from time to time. For me its ok, because I need it twice a week, before my children wants to leave to their sports club.
But I’m not sure which information whatsapp is still able to steel, because I only can block a couple of the 81 authorizations, which whatsapp is requesting!
The next sports club I try to convince of using signal!

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Hello again!

To answer your original question: I think the advanced Privacy can’t do much against whatsapp, because whatsapp isn’t using classical trackers.
But what does whatsapp do with

  • the numbers of all incoming calls
  • the text of all sms
  • the geo tag of all your photos
  • all account information stored on the phone
  • the names of all recently used apps
  • many more (81 in total, see https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/)

beside all your contacts.

Is it possible that whatsapp is spyware? Why are so many people using it?

Thanks for all this. I do reconsider the use of w.

BTW: Signal and Threema are considered to be rather secure. What about Telegram?

Today I hit on an important option you should disallow, too. Unfortunately, it is a bit hidden:
Go to options → Apps → special App access → WIFI controll → WhatsApp and disallow it! Otherwise it is possible to get your surrounding wifi ssids and look up your position in one of the wifi databases.

Thanks for this! I didn’t know this issue and I actually wonder why such apps need to control the wifi…

I think this is why :

https://faq.whatsapp.com/617505350173381/?helpref=uf_share

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