WhatsApp doesn't understand the web • Hacker News Board

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#91

Post by NietTim » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:25 PM UTC

benihana wrote: post #80

NietTim wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL Hackernews has a searchbar I'm still finding my way trough this UI (Why is there no 'inbox' with replies to your comments?!)

Because it's not reddit (stop acting like it's reddit - the communities and conventions are quite different) and if you want to participate in a discussion, stay in the thread. Did you come from /r/programming? There have been a few comment threads talking about hacker news recently.

Sorry man, didn't know I'm not allowed to criticize poor UX. I will never say anything at all.

No I didn't come from /r/programming, or reddit for that matter.

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#92

Post by NietTim » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:26 PM UTC

riquito wrote: post #55

NietTim wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TIL Hackernews has a searchbar I'm still finding my way trough this UI (Why is there no 'inbox' with replies to your comments?!)

> TIL Hackernews has a searchbar It does, it's at bottom of each page

Yeah, that's what I meant

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#93

Post by NietTim » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:26 PM UTC

SyneRyder wrote: post #64

NietTim wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Ah I see, thanks!

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#94

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:28 PM UTC

ce4 wrote: post #71

This one is missing on the list: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=web.whatsapp.... Are they serious??? - Vulnerable to POODLE - too short HSTS value - RC4 - SSL3 "maybe they need to support ancient broken browsers" EDIT: As only Chrome is supported, RC4 & SSL3 are moot.

[deleted]

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#95

Post by NietTim » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:31 PM UTC

ownagefool wrote: post #56

TillE wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with putting your encrypted data anywhere and everywhere, as long as you are the only one who has the encryption key. Unfortunately, it sounds like that's not what Telegram is doing with its non-"secret" messages.

Actually, you have to assume that any encryption is a temporary measure; it can and will be broken in the future. With that in mind, if something is worth encrypting, it's possible you don't want the service to store it after it's useful. Of course, whatsapp could register devices which are thrown away after x days without delivery then store the messages until delivered to all end devices but that's likely a core in…

So instead the intelligence agencies intercept all whatsapp traffic and crack that. Not much difference

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#96

Post by Kurtz79 » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:32 PM UTC

icebraining wrote: post #22

Kurtz79 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android and iOS have more than 95% market share. http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp I suppose the benefits of supporting the remaining 5% against the costs of having to develop and mantain another client(s) have been discussed internally in Whatsapp. "It would be nice" and "it would be commercially sound" are very different propostions.

Android and iOS have more than 95% market share of the smartphones market . Plenty of people access the web with feature phones. In fact, that's why Whatsapp has clients for Nokia S60 and S40.

My argument still stands.

Would be commercially sound to support these "plenty of people" ?

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#97

Post by mike_hearn » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:35 PM UTC

72deluxe wrote: post #59

ddeck wrote: post #38

Earlier 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…

WhatsApp operates at insane scale very cheaply. It's one reason they can charge $1 per year or less (lots of users don't seem to pay - they keep giving me free extensions for example). Not archiving all messages on their end keeps their costs in check, and is better for privacy.

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#98

Post by briandear » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:35 PM UTC

Kurtz79 wrote: post #16

DanBC wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are phones that have WWW access that do not run Android or iOS. Whatsapp apps miss very many people who'd use it if they could.

Android and iOS have more than 95% market share. http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp I suppose the benefits of supporting the remaining 5% against the costs of having to develop and mantain another client(s) have been discussed internally in Whatsapp. "It would be nice" and "it would be commercially sound" are very different propostions.

That statistic is meaningless. The percentage of what's app users using a particular platform is far more important, assuming their customers matter to them. There are a lot of Nokia users on What's App. As far as iOS, with iMessage, what's app is redundant unless you have a lot of friends using another platform.

If there's a legitimate security benefit from What's App, then perhaps that's compelling, but trusting a Facebook company with anything remotely related to privacy and security is a fool's errand. Zuck has yet to prove that privacy and security matter.

For secure messaging I generally use a courier and a message written on paper using a one-time pad. Slower but more secure. If it goes over a wire, the odds of it being actually secure are low, unless you handle the encryption and control the keys yourself.

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#99

Post by NietTim » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:36 PM UTC

frankzinger wrote: post #90

riquito wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> TIL Hackernews has a searchbar It does, it's at bottom of each page

On reddit 'TIL' means 'today I learned'. P.S. TIL some people automatically downvote any post containing the word 'reddit'.

And other places on the internet.

Re: WhatsApp doesn't understand the web

#100

Post by whitenoise » Thu, Jan 22, 2015, 2:36 PM UTC

blcArmadillo wrote: post #87

TeeWEE wrote: post #63

While 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...…

Perhaps someone can answer this for me. I've seen several comments here saying WhatsApp doesn't store conversations. The other day someone sent me a picture on WhatsApp. Before looking at the message I was going through my photo gallery and noticed a random picture I didn't take so I deleted it. When I went to look at the message it was just a blurred out photo of the picture I had deleted and when I clicked it it sa…

Adding my own anecdotal experience here.

Recently my Z10 got bricked. The only backup available was from April 2014. I bought a new Z10 and restored the backup on that phone. I was expecting that all WhatsApp messages and pictures received between April 2014 and the restoration date would not be available. But, WhatsApp did somehow pull the messages and pictures from recent months. So, where did it restore the messages/pictures from? From other contacts' phones?