@sheogorath Yeah, that's what I'm talking about - it needs an Android emulator running 24/7 with the WhatsApp app :)

@kravietz well, that's optional if you don't have WhatsApp installed on a phone.

There is no way around that as WhatsApp doesn't allow to send messages directly to the WebAPI.

Messages are decrypted on the phone and then re-encrypted for the WebAPI which then the bridge uses.

Which means you either have a phone somewhere that has WhatsApp installed or a VM.

@sheogorath That's the whole point - WhatsApp Business allows messaging with an API and without a mobile app.

I suppose you don't have the same E2EE as with mobile but I don't care - I just need it to be reachable to friends abroad who are stuck to WA for life and won't switch to Signal or Matrix :)

@kravietz I see, I wasn't aware that WhatsApp Business is a thing :o

@sheogorath Yeah, I just saw it in Twillio interface a few days ago - this is how I found out it exists :)

@kravietz Had a quick peek into their specs…

https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/api/messages/text

When you send a message to "Business accounts" there is definitely no E2EE which means Facebook will be able to read all your messages. That's even worse than having WhatsApp installed on your phone. I really don't recommend to use this.

@sheogorath Not from my point of view. It's a trade-off.

Having WhatsApp app on your phone means not only giving FB access to your location and sensors but also exposing yourself to zero-day exploits like the one used by Pegasus.

On the other hand, I don't care about the confidentiality of my correspondence with people who use WhatsApp because it's largely compromised on their end anyway.