Hi everyone,
First of all, I know WhatsApp doesn’t belong to Google so I’m technically in the wrong community.
Still I think getting rid of Facebook is part of the same movement.
I’ve been using Threema (and Signal/SMS a little bit) for years with all my close contacts, but I can’t fully get rid of WhatsApp as I’m part of some groups where I can’t convince/force everyone to move to Threema.
Because I was still on WhatsApp, a lot of people outside of the necessary groups thought it was okay to contact me on WhatsApp.
I had looked into ways of blocking everyone except these essential groups, but I couldn’t find anything on the web.
Now I think I’ve found the solution to prevent people outside of these necessary WhatsApp groups to write to me on WhatsApp. I had never heard of it before yesterday, but you can download a WhatsApp Business app which lets you send automated answers when people are writing to you.
So I basically just created an automated answer telling people that I’m using Threema/Signal/Sms and that I won’t answer on WhatsApp. Now I don’t have to write long messages telling people to please write to me on another app (and then these people keep writing on WhatsApp of course). So now it’s make the effort or leave me alone 😅
I still plan in ditching WhatsApp for good at one point, but it seems like a good temporary solution and, since I hadn’t found anyone suggesting this idea, I thought I would share it here to help people who have the same problem.
Good on you, man. The network effect is always the most insidious to beat when you want to make the step away from a big platform, and you found a way to hopefully steer the casual contacts onto other, safer platforms. I’m happy for you.
Yeah I guess « network effect » really sums it up perfectly.
It’s difficult to make people understand that it’s your right to try to get away from all these big platforms without ending just being the old grumpy guy.
Oh, I totally embraced being that grumpy weirdo who insists that what people see as some sort of benevolent, public utility… isn’t. Friends and family still ask why I have to be so critical of corporate social media; I’ll never understand why they aren’t 🤷
Not the solution you looking for as I feel, but I leave it here for others to discover: With a home server and proper technical knowledge you can use WhatsApp via Matrix: https://matrix.org/ecosystem/bridges/whatsapp/
This is something I discovered way before, when I was trying to ditch Facebook Messenger. I felt like there’s absolutely no chance to convince everyone around me to use Signal, so even not having the app on the phone looked like an OK option.
Not sure if you haven’t read my comment, or just didn’t get the jist of it: the point is that you can use the service without installing their crappy app.
I heard you still need to log into WhatsApp every few days for the bridge to keep working though. How long were you using the bridge for (or if you’re still using it, how long have you been using it for) without having WhatsApp installed at all?
I had a look into this in the past, but it wasn’t for me as I don’t have a home server.
I think you could also pay some service to host a server for you, but I’m saving my geeky money for other projects.
@Dariusmiles2123 Good luck with groups that are work or school related. Without WA you are just out. Nobody will send you the info another way.
That’s a great suggestion! Thank you for posting this
There is watomatic which does exactly this. You can select messenger/WhatsApp and when one reply or messages you. It auto responds with whatever text you want.