Don't you get it? It's a mobile app, which performs really well(hence no cloud storage I guess) and is associated with your phone, your phone is and will be the most important thing for whatsapp, the web thing is just a convenience for while you're at your laptop or desktop, like working and stuff, I find it awesome, it's a lot more productive then picking up the phone. I don't mind it requires having my phone connected to the web, it is all times, that's the point o whatsapp.
WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
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Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#62Whilst the developer in me appreciates the sentiments expressed in the article I have to point out that to build and app that is used by over 700 millions users you have to be focussed on a fairly narrow set of features. You need to execute those features very well and WhatsApp delivers.
Their original client works very well and was certainly the best im client at the time. Now all that's keeping people there is network effect. Telegram is just better at this point, and it works on almost every platform with no weird restrictions
Storing a history of all of your messages in the cloud isn't a feature for everyone.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#63While i agree whatsapp web should work in every browser the auther is forgetting one IMPORTANT gotcha:
Whatsapp, is a messaging-routing platform. It doesnt store any messages. Thats what makes whatsapp strong. Its a feature. Thats why you need your phone. Its like SMS. They are not storing all your sensitive message.
If you dont care about storing sensitive messages on servers. Use Telegram/Facebook Messaging, etc...
I think its really a feature, that its not storing your messages.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
Try searching for "WhatsApp".
TIL Hackernews has a searchbar I'm still finding my way trough this UI (Why is there no 'inbox' with replies to your comments?!)
There is an "inbox" of sorts, but it took me years to find it - it's the Threads link in the top navigation bar.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#65I'd love a technical explanation of how this works. Are all the messages kept on the phone? How does it relate to the Whisper Systems end to end encryption on the Android to Android version of WhatsApp? Is there some relationship between the two - is this very bizarre web interface there because of constraints relating to privacy and encryption? i.e. WhatsApp don't have your messages. [Edit] Is it peer to peer in som…
What i remember from the Erlang discussions around Whatsapp, they dont keep the messages on the server, only temporary until it has been delivered. So Im guessing that is the reason why they need your phone to be connected.
Might have been in this video [1]... Not sure at the moment (will check later when im out of the office).
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe the issue is that unlike web chats and apps like Telegram, Whatsapp doesn't store conversations on their servers beyond what is required to deliver messages to the required destination device(s). This presents obvious problems with having not just a web client, but any client other than the main device, since the main device is the only store of the existing conversations. New messages sent also need to be…
Doesn't that sound like a poor architecture then? If the system is reliant on the main device, what happens if that gets run over or destroyed? WhatsApp have no control over the fate of the device. Why wouldn't they store the messages on the server and sync from that? WhatsApp have control of the fate of their own servers, which is far more reliable, SURELY. If I send a new message from a device, either the other dev…
If WhatsApp don't store the messages then they can't give them to any authorities if they're asked. That's a pretty big selling point for some users.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#67This reminds me of how weChat/weixing implements their web client, minus the ridiculousness of chrome only `requestFileSystem()`.
Scan a QR code from the client on your phone, and re-authentiate every time the connection is interrupted.
If you don't use a supported platform, like a Blackberry, you pretty much have no way of communicating with anyone in China, since you can't login to the web client.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a Jolla (Sailfish) phone. I can not use the web client, because I need an Android, Windows or Blackberry phone. WhatsApp does however work fine on my phone (via Alien Dalvik). This "web client" is not actually a web client - it's just an app for your phone that you can display on your computer monitor.
A bit of an off-topic question - how would you rate Sailfish and it's interop with Android stuff?
The interop with Android works great. Spotify, HN App, reddit is fun, YouTube, Google Chrome and Google Play Store(!) work without problems except for some crashes from time to time.
The only problematic app is WhatsApp because the notifications only go into the native Sailfish notification area when an Android app is in the foreground.
Many apps and copy&pasting between native/Android apps were fixed in the last Sailfish version released 3 weeks ago.
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#69o
Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web
#70I don't get all the complaints. We are already talking about a modified version of XMPP that only works within their network. We should not complain about the crappyness of their web-client, but rather on the fact that they are not using an open-protocol like XMPP for which the plenty of clients, that suit everyone needs, already exist!