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WhatsApp is broken, really broken

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Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#91

Post by guruz »

morsch wrote: post #12
aw3c2 wrote: post #2

Sadly, normal free Jabber/XMPP does not seem to be a viable alternative. On Android, sure (though the clients are not too great at reconnecting/noticing-connection-loss/reporting-message-reception) but on iOS apparently you cannot run such things in the background. At least the situation was dire when I tried to convince some iOS friends to use XMPP instead of SMS last winter. http://monal.im/ looked most promising b…

You could run the real XMPP client on a server and use the native push messaging system to wake up the mobile client. This would also enable receiving "offline" messages while the mobile device is not on a network or turned off. Of course, this would let the person operating the "real" XMPP client read your messages; but the person operating the XMPP server can do that already, so there isn't any real change -- eithe…

We've been trying to build something supporting that, but so far with far less than full steam. Too busy with client projects right now :)

http://woboq.im/

Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#92

Post by mindstab »

andrewljohnson wrote: post #8

Did the author email the WhatsApp team to give them any chance to fix this before they splashed it across the internet for anyone to abuse? The article makes no mention of it, so I assume not. In my opinion, the obscurity peeled off by this expose did more to endanger WhatsApp users than the bad programming. So, I can only conclude this post's main goal is page views. OP could easily warn them, and at least wait unti…

Because it's always better for only the "bad guys" to know about these exploits? If it's as dead easy broken as the article claims then you can be damn sure a lot of other people already know about it and aren't advertising it. And with such a poorly designed security model do you really expect the App developer to care enough to essentially sepuku in the app stores till they fix it? unlikely.

You else where claim the author doesn't do enough to get the attention of non techie users to justify publishing this? What else could he have done? Spelled it out simpler? he only has his tech blog unless you think maybe he has funds to take out adverts and wishes to spend a small fortune alerting everyone that way?

Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#93

Post by ollysb »

mikeash wrote: post #88
ollysb wrote: post #13

I'd have thought a large majority of what's app users use it for chatting. I can't imagine they're particularly fussed about people sniffing their plans for meeting up that night. There are varying requirements for security...

I suggest you go find some nearby open wifi in use, spy on some people, then tell them what you've found and see how they react to it. Report back when you're done... If you can....

If the table next door was having an obviously private discussion they'd probably be a bit put out if you started offering your opinion. People know their conversations often aren't secure, but then there are certain social expectations. Sometimes it's just expected that other people will politely ignore their conversation. If you told people that you had been spying on them I guarantee you that they would not blame their tech. They would place the blame squarely at your door for having listened in on something you shouldn't have.

Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#94

Post by mahyarm »

zachalexander wrote: post #68
spartango wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

App piracy is actually a substantial issue on both stores: On Android, sideloading of apps from unauthorized sources (not the store), and frail DRM makes piracy really easy. The US government has been targeting these sources[1], but as you can imagine, there are many. Some have said that Android app piracy may be up to 60%[2], but I think there's some sample bias in these figures and suspect it's a fair bit lower. On…

Thanks. I imagine this varies a lot with app category/demographic. I'm not a gamer, but I've heard that many gamers have a large, ongoing appetite for new games, and perhaps this makes them more sensitive to price. Even a $0.99 price tag can seem high if you want to play a half dozen new games every month. Meanwhile, a non-gamer who downloads that many apps in a whole year might not mind paying as much. Also, gamers…

Jailbreaks can destabilize your phone on iOS. From what I understand, pirating android apps usually requires no modification of your phone's OS.

Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#95

Post by tomflack »

minikomi wrote: post #84
zachalexander wrote: post #19

OT, but I'm intrigued by their business model. I don't know the history, but currently, the Android app is free, and it says the use of the service is free for the first year, then will be $0.99 per year after that. Meanwhile, the iOS app is $0.99 straight up. Thoughts: (a) "Free for a year, $1/year after that" seems like an awful long time to wait for a payday, but if it works, and you get lots of free users, I bet…

NAVER Line is also currently killing it in this space in Japan, Korea and other nearby places.. Their business model started as "free but sell extra stickers to send to your friends", but now they have critical mass it seems they're setting up some kind of social network.. But a piece at a time by making an app at a time. Their Photo sharing app is gaining ground, as is their "diary" (read: timeline) app.

Since Marchish this year I've found Naver's LINE to be really unreliable though. Messages delayed days or hours, etc. I'm surprised it's still growing if this is the case for more than just me.

Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#96

Post by HarshaThota »

bvdbijl wrote: post #79

I was working on a better whatsapp api than the mess that is whatsapi, do not have enough time though. It's based in wazapp which has an actual implementation of the binary packed xmpp transfer mechanism they use. Might upload it if someone's interested, it seems broken right now though

Do it. It may be possible for someone to create a third-party client for WhatsApp instead of relying on the official version.

Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#97

Post by yen223 »

ollysb wrote: post #13

I'd have thought a large majority of what's app users use it for chatting. I can't imagine they're particularly fussed about people sniffing their plans for meeting up that night. There are varying requirements for security...

A large majority of whatsapp users use it as a straight-up replacement for normal SMS. It's easy to impersonate someone's account and pull off the whole "I am stuck please wire me money" scam.

Re: WhatsApp is broken, really broken

#99

Post by GauntletWizard »

How do apps like WhatsApp get popular? They offer inferior service in every way to builtins, and require that both parties have installed something. SMS is in every way better unless you don't have a texting plan, in that case, GTalk and iMessage are in every way better (And GTalk is even cross platform with several fairly simple XMPP clients on IOS). Who uses this shit?

I encountered the same thing recently with Raidcall. It's a shitty voice service that's in every way inferior to Skype, but trying to position itself as a competitor to Teamspeak (Which itself has been eclipsed on features and price by Mumble). Yet, somehow people will argue with you about it and evangelize it, without any sort of benefit comparison.

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