I just got my only international contact to switch to Signal, but I don’t feel like setting up whatsapp again if I would ever need it for some reason. Is there any harm in simply keeping it and not using it?

  • @Jojonintendo@lemmy.ml
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    93 years ago

    I think every app can still access metadata from other apps even if not directly in use, but I’d certainly like to hear what more knowledgeable people than me know about this.

  • @Nevar@lemmy.ml
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    13 years ago

    So if you don’t have anyone on WhatsApp then I suggest just uninstalling it. When a new international contact asks you to use it, suggest an alternative because the alternatives are now common and known (like Telegram and Signal). 1) it shows you’re principled and they should respect you for that and 2) if they don’t want to spend 3 minutes downloading an app for you, they probably aren’t worth your time.

    However, if you’re really attracted to them my opinion above is moot of course.

    Technically; you could theoretically disable the app and only enable it when you need to use it. When the app is disabled it’s not allowed to run any processes, such as collecting metadata about your phone and sending it to the home server for analysis. But when disabled you wouldn’t receive any notifications, and as soon as you reenabled it it would send that metadata. Essentially it would be like treating your WhatsApp account like an email address, and at that point, why not just tell your contacts to contact you by email?