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BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

birdy.chat

211–220 of 517 posts

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The regional limit makes it pretty much useless. Sounds like an easy fix. Europe just has to convince the rest of the world to ditch the 15 year old popular US apps ingrained in pop culture and with network effects, and have them switch to their own EU made apps, this way we can all communicate together. :hugs: Until then, let's keep chatting on $US_APP so we can debate on how we're gonna achieve that switch.

Shouldnt be hard to convince folks. Everyone i know hates facebook / meta and is just waiting for an agreed upon alternative.

There is an ongoing move from Whatsapp to Signal. It's just very slow.

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#212
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp has an official API you can use already. https://pypi.org/project/whatsapp-python/

That is not official, unmaintained since November 2024, and only applicable for the business API. It wouldn't allow someone to create a WhatsApp client for a non-Android/iOS platform.

>It wouldn't allow someone to create a WhatsApp client for a non-Android/iOS platform.

This is moving the goal posts.

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#213
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand my agreement with WhatsApp - i read it and all. I have no agreement with that other app. I do not know what they would do with my data. Until they give me a privacy policy and i approve it, they indeed should have none of my data. Opt-in is the correct solution. I am not even sure how this is GDPR-compliant (that app is European and thus must care about GDPR). They do not have my permission to have/handl…

What a strange way to think about a telecommunications service. By the same logic, shouldn’t there be a privacy policy for regular old phone lines? Who knows which third parties are between you and the person on the other end! And speaking about the other end: I have bad news about all the data you share with untrustworthy contacts on WhatsApp… Quite practically, anyone that enables backups (which WhatsApp heavily nu…

old telephone lines did not disclose info about me with merely my phone number. whataspp discloses name, picture, status

As for your second comment, updated first comment with:

I am not even sure how this is GDPR-compliant if that app is European. They do not have my permission to have my private data, and GDPR does not allow whatAspp to hand it over without my permission either...

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#214
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not official, unmaintained since November 2024, and only applicable for the business API. It wouldn't allow someone to create a WhatsApp client for a non-Android/iOS platform.

>It wouldn't allow someone to create a WhatsApp client for a non-Android/iOS platform. This is moving the goal posts.

The goal post was moved already because I said "when can I send messages" and not "when can my business send messages". Anyway, thanks for the link.

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#215

When can I send messages from a PC running Python?

Hopefully - never ever ever ever ever.

I do not want spam.

This is why iMessage is much better than SMS - there is an implicit cost to send. This is why there is 100x (my experience) iMessage spam than SMS spam. Easy to send messages -> spam

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#216
post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a strange way to think about a telecommunications service. By the same logic, shouldn’t there be a privacy policy for regular old phone lines? Who knows which third parties are between you and the person on the other end! And speaking about the other end: I have bad news about all the data you share with untrustworthy contacts on WhatsApp… Quite practically, anyone that enables backups (which WhatsApp heavily nu…

old telephone lines did not disclose info about me with merely my phone number. whataspp discloses name, picture, status As for your second comment, updated first comment with: I am not even sure how this is GDPR-compliant if that app is European. They do not have my permission to have my private data, and GDPR does not allow whatAspp to hand it over without my permission either...

> whataspp discloses name, picture, status

Only to who you choose to make it available to. And if you choose “everybody”, I don’t see how you can reasonably expect this to mean “everybody not using third-party software”?

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#217
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

old telephone lines did not disclose info about me with merely my phone number. whataspp discloses name, picture, status As for your second comment, updated first comment with: I am not even sure how this is GDPR-compliant if that app is European. They do not have my permission to have my private data, and GDPR does not allow whatAspp to hand it over without my permission either...

> whataspp discloses name, picture, status Only to who you choose to make it available to. And if you choose “everybody”, I don’t see how you can reasonably expect this to mean “everybody not using third-party software”?

Because until today that IS what it meant! Are you claiming that "pray i do not change the deal further" is a sane approach?

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#219
I am wondering if this opens up the possibility of having more than two WhatsApp Number on the same phone. Especially on iOS.

I have long requested this feature for Whatsapp Business, where I can pay an annual subscription just to have more than one number. So I can separate life between Business and Friends.

Re: BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

#220
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> whataspp discloses name, picture, status Only to who you choose to make it available to. And if you choose “everybody”, I don’t see how you can reasonably expect this to mean “everybody not using third-party software”?

Because until today that IS what it meant! Are you claiming that "pray i do not change the deal further" is a sane approach?

I just don’t think that’s a reasonable expectation of a telecommunications tool, so yeah, I think it’s a fair change well within the norms and expectations of an instant messenger.

You should get to control how/ to whom your data is distributed, but also requiring these recipients to only use software and services of your choosing seems excessive. Platform lock-in at this point seems like the much greater harm.

I could see the case for a small indicator in the contact details that they’re using a third-party client, but anything more (green bubbles?) would be counterproductive.

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