Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send

Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by baq on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @05:58AM (#47776907)

zuck can read your whatsapp messages, at this point I think I'd rather criminals and the government read them instead

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by hikarudo on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @09:39AM (#47778825)

WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted. No one at Meta can read your messages.

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by righthand on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @12:02PM (#47781037)

If I can log into whatsapp on a new device and old messages aren’t encrypted then they have a copy of your key and it is not true e2e encryption.

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by Mordisquitos on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @12:14PM (#47781215)

Try logging in on a new device and putting your main device into aeroplane mode as soon as the login succeeds. Loading of old messages on the new device will stop.

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by lukebennett on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @12:47PM (#47781712)

You can't unless you've chosen to back up your WhatsApp messages to iCloud/Google in which case it's Apple/Google responsible for preserving the messages and subject to their encryption standards, nothing to do with Meta.

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by cute_boi on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @09:53AM (#47778980)

How are we sure that it is really end-to-end encrypted?

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by lossyalgo on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @10:26AM (#47779467)

Moxie Marlinspike (founder of Signal) [0]implemented the same E2EE algorithm as Signal (Signal Protocol) into WhatsApp, but that was 10 years ago, so who knows if things have changed since then.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie_Marlinspike

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by dTal on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @02:55PM (#47783554)

Practically speaking, it isn't secure; no closed app can be. It receives regular compulsory updates (old versions refuse to work) and there's nothing at all stopping Zuck from sneaking in backdoors targeted at you personally.

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by 1vuio0pswjnm7 on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @02:41PM (#47783358)

Saw this exact claim on a billboard not too long ago

It's a strangely worded statement. What about data collection, metadata, other third parties

Maybe it's related to the fact that plaintiffs lawyers are now trying to verify what's going on inside Meta with WhatsApp through litigation discovery:

https://ia801607.us.archive.org/10/items/gov.uscourts.cand.4...

Meta's motion to dismiss seemed a little weak. Time will tell

https://ia801607.us.archive.org/10/items/gov.uscourts.cand.4...

Hearing will likely be sometime this summer

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by commandersaki on Friday April 17, 2026 @12:47PM (#47807893)

What about data collection, metadata, other third parties

How does any of that result in Meta reading your messages?

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by pwillia7 on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @09:52AM (#47778975)

yeah who wants marginally regulated oligarchs -- Give me fully unregulated criminals!

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by mett36 on Wednesday April 15, 2026 @11:12AM (#47780260)

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Re:Peter Steinberger – WhatsApp CLI: sync, search, send by gsich on Thursday April 16, 2026 @10:49AM (#47793882)

Maybe, as I don't know if I got a special version that exfiltrates data to somewhere else. But this does not improve SMS security in any way. Another software also potentially being bad has no influence here.

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