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BirdyChat becomes first European chat app that is interoperable with WhatsApp

birdy.chat

401–410 of 517 posts

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

#401
post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>working on all devices makes it very nice. Signal has end-to-end encryption working on all devices. Telegram doesn't because they're amateurs.

I didn't say Signal did not and obviously Telegram can make it work because they do have it if you switch it on per chat. So what do you mean? Edit: I guess you are from Ukraine? That is valid, the CEO is fishy. I did say I would not recommend it, I said it is the only performant and easy to use chat app I know off. That was a user perspective thing and more the hope of people pointing out 'no you fool here is anothe…

>Telegram can make it work because they do have it if you switch it on per chat

You can't enable 1:1 secret chat from your desktop client. The secret chat doesn't appear on desktop when you enable it on your phone. So you're forced to drop end-to-end encryption if you want interoperability between phone and desktop clients. You can't enable secret chats for group chats on any client. The company isn't working to make secret chats actually usable.

>I guess you are from Ukraine?

Nope.

>Definitely not Signal, slow and unfriendly

The thing is, friendly apps are apps that respect your human right to privacy. There's a term for applications that appear to do something useful while doing something against the user's interests without them knowing: A Trojan Horse. Which is a malware classification.

When you view it through that lens, Telegram is the unfriendliest app out there outside completely unencrypted messengers like Palringo (at least used to be the case), where anyone can read your message from the cable with WireShark.

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

#402
post #390
post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>joined Telegram on their own because of its benefits Sorry, social media masquerading as a secure messaging app isn't a secure messaging app.

I bet nobody joins Telegram because of its perceived security, it's a content platform.

Yup, yet for some reason we see Telegram always pushed on secure messaging app chats, up until the point when someone points out it's not secure at all like it tries to advertise it self. Then it's always about the fun features it has, even if it's acting against the user's best interest, which is the definition of Trojan horse malware .

Also, there's a LOT of people who have joined Telegram because of its perceived security. The company has been extremely vocal about WhatsApp being horrible despite it having always-on E2EE, when in TG it's practically always off.

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

#403
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not. Part of Russia is in Europe. The geographical limit between Europe and Asia is not well defined. I think it would be similar to saying "First American chat app that...", which would be ambiguous?

It Is fair to say that "Europe" is a proxy for "European Union", like "America" is usually understood as "United States of America", without any precise geographic connotation. Their service operates in the European Economic Area, which includes more countries than the EU and is therefore closer to the European geographic surface.

I think that "America" actually means "the USA". "American", on the other hand...

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

#404
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The problem lies in enforcement. Unless you are a huge player, there is almost nil chance you're gonna get fined. I am curious: why is that difficult? Define the fine as a percentage of the revenue of the company, have users report links, and pay someone to check the link and send the fine. Sounds like easy money... I mean it's very profitable to pay people to check parking lots and fine drivers who don't follow th…

If I am business outside Europe, why would I send Europe what my revenue is?

If you don't care about GDPR at all, then you don't have a cookie banner. So if you have the abusive cookie banner, I think it's fair to say that you care about Europe.

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

#405
post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In countries where SMS isn't as widespread as it is in the US, the use of WhatsApp is much more common. I live in one of those countries, and I don't think I've ever had to use it to communicate with someone on another continent. I think most of its use is simply local, for your community or friend group. The downside for me is basically the lack of appeal for a non-tech user (like my parents) to voluntarily want to…

> SMS Here in EU you pay for that. Soon as you send an image, you get charged extra. Completely useless compared to Whatsapp

Try searching for that message you send 5 years ago in Whatsapp vs SMS. Retrieval speed is unmatched. SMS wins.

Now try, exporting all your whatsapp messges to standard format that can be interpreted in any text editor. Again, SMS wins.

Looking for the abusive messages a nasty acquitance sent you? Again, SMS wins.

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

#406
post #349

I'd like to take the opportunity to mention a tiny very useful app that allows opening a WhatsApp chat directly with any number, without having to register it first as a contact. Great for vacations or similar situations where a quick one-time chat is needed with somebody: * https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trianguloy... * Webapp: https://trianguloy.github.io/OpenInWhatsapp_Web/ I'm just grateful for…

Or from any browser: https://wa.me/

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

#407
post #270

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.

Man, this is just a message app. It's trivial. The law must mandate it to work. It's not a technical problem. It's a political one

> Man, this is just a message app. It's trivial. The law must mandate it to work.

I don't know if you know this, but the EU cannot force a company to obey EU laws outside of the EU.

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

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> any WhatsApp user in the region The regional limit makes it pretty much useless. The only reason I keep a whatsapp account is to stay in touch with my family in law and a few relatives who live in another continent.

>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.

> 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

Are you on some funny medication or something? ROTFL.

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

#409

Never heard of this before. Why would I use this? I am assuming the messages are not actually encrypted, because on their own privacy page they state that they "process" messages and attachments sent through birdychat. So are they processing the raw unencrypted data on their servers or what? From a cursory glance of their CSAE policy, combined with the above, it seems they would be very eager to comply with the dread…

It is very possible that they process messages in the client app, before sending them. WhatsApp does the same: have you noticed how the photos you receive have a debatable quality? Presumably (and hopefully) the sender's app downscaled them before e2e encryption.

You just need to enable "HD videos & photos" option in the WhatsApp settings and then the pictures and movies sent via the app have a much higher quality.

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

#410

It would have been more effective to require Meta (and all other messaging companies) to implement an open protocol or open source theirs, so that people can freely write alternative clients free of malware.

No, this is BS. Why? You want users for your chat app? Go get them the old fashioned way, not by anti US companies legislation.
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