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0 pointsoctorian7y ago0 comments

3rd party implementations, such as that python library, have two fundamental issues (beyond what's mentioned here).

1) They're using outdated versions of the protocols, which they won't be motiviated to fix until those old versions are cut off server-side and their implementation suddenly stops working. 2) They never quite figured out how to correctly handle all the nuances and corner cases of the E2E encryption, so that part of their design is extremely fragile (just look at the issue trackers for all the evidence of this that you need).

On top of all that, the maintainers have basically given up and abandoned the projects... So they're not even being actively maintained.

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est317y ago

> they won't be motiviated to fix until those old versions are cut off server-side and their implementation suddenly stops working.

I've never used one of these products, so I might be wrong, but as far as I understood it, the way WhatsApp bans your phone number if you use a third party client is done in a way that is permanent? So instead of saying "sorry your version is too old please use a newer one" they say "sorry your version is too old we don't want to see you ever again even if you fix it". It's totally okay to do something like "sorry the version is too old" if it's not your number that's banned but the outdated protocol implementation.

> the maintainers have basically given up and abandoned the projects

Because WhatsApp is sending DMCA requests like crazy [1] and the constant protocol changes make it hard for third party developers. See the opinion by one dev here [2].

If WhatsApp came out with a public statement about supporting third party clients, listing their conditions, it would be really great progress. Matrix, IRC, etc all thrive with different client implementations, even Threema officially tolerates the OpenMittsu third party client. The official communication I've seen by WhatsApp is the opposite.

[1]: https://github.com/github/dmca/blob/332f1896902c4f5780a249c0...

[2]: https://github.com/Enrico204/Whatsapp-Desktop/commit/18ba8a4...

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