How can I use Whatsapp video call on Linux?

I tried Whatsapp-for-Linux and Whatsie but they didn’t work.

  • Eugenia@lemmy.mlEnglish
    16·
    3 months ago

    Video calls are not supported under Linux afaik, since they don’t enable it for the web version.

    • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
      3·
      3 months ago

      I wonder if they’re supported on Windows with Chrome…? Maybe this is a case of simply replacing the UA string?

        • Treachery4524@lemmy.ml
          1·
          3 months ago

          Well they probably could get it to work in the browser it’s just that they didn’t. I wonder why?!

            • Treachery4524@lemmy.ml
              1·
              3 months ago

              Doesn’t discord support video calls in the browser? Surely it cant be the e2e being the problem here? I didn’t know about the WASM overhead, I always thought of it as near native but I guess that’s not the case then? Websockets should work fine though right?

                • Treachery4524@lemmy.ml
                  1·
                  3 months ago

                  You raise valid points and thank you for the detailed answer. It’s a shame wasm isn’t hardware accelerated, is that because of security or is it simply not implemented yet? (i can google this but I’m just wondering.) I agree that being able to call on a web browser is perhaps less necessary because of the phone having to be linked anyway, but it still would be nice to have :)

                • xavier666@lemm.eeEnglish
                  1·
                  3 months ago

                  Discord uses unencrypted WebRTC

                  I’m a noob but how unencrypted are we talking about here? Can someone do a packet capture and reconstruct the video? Or like unencrypted at the machine level and other processes can see.

  • Tumbleweeds5@discuss.tchncs.de
    151·
    3 months ago

    I’m guessing all the people suggesting to ditch WhatsApp have never been to Brazil. Everything there is done with it, you can buy groceries, medicine, do banking, get services, take out, etc… Getting the whole country to change will never happen. So, yes, while some of us do install Signal, none will ever uninstall WhatsApp…

      • jherazob@beehaw.orgEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        We’re seeing the fallout from a commercial service used for public interest communication falling in real time with Twitter, so many public service things that depended or still depend on Twitter have outright broke as it turns into raw sewage and people flee it. That should have NEVER been the main communications medium, and now the price is being paid. I understand as i too am in a place where WhatsApp is near-mandatory, but this is something that WILL have bad consequences sooner or later.

    • T (they/she)@beehaw.org
      1·
      3 months ago

      Yup, WhatsApp is basically the Brazilian WeChat. If I uninstall WhatsApp I basically lose contact with my mom and a bunch of other people since I live in Canada.

      • devraza@lemmy.ml
        2·
        3 months ago

        my mom and a bunch of other people

        People who aren’t very close to you are one thing, but wouldn’t your mom of all people be wiling to install Signal or your preferred alternative?

        • T (they/she)@beehaw.org
          2·
          3 months ago

          My mom is 70 years old and can barely use her phone. It took many years to convince her to get a smartphone.

    • Patch@feddit.uk
      1·
      3 months ago

      The UK isn’t quite that far, but it’s absolutely the dominant text messaging and calling app in the UK. Nobody uses the built in Android or Apple tools anymore, and I’m as likely to receive a WhatsApp voice call as an actual phone call these days.

      I have Signal on my phone, but I’ve literally never had a cause to use it; I’ve simply got no contacts on there.

  • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
    8·
    3 months ago

    Using an Android emulator like Waydroid or compatibility layer like Anbox you might be able to use the Android version on Linux and pick up calls from there?

    I have good experiences with Waydroid, but no experience with WhatsApp so I can’t guarantee it will work, it’s just a suggestion that I hope will help

  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
    105·
    3 months ago

    You can use jitsi both on mobile and desktop and it is platform agnostic, privacy respecting and FOSS. Just dont use whatsapp (video) at all.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
        215·
        3 months ago

        Why should everyone be forced to use their preferred messenger rather than the other way around? Especially when yours/mine has all of the same functionality and none of the ads or spying?

        • NorthWestWind@lemmy.world
          141·
          3 months ago

          Because we are the minority. If people understood that, we would be living in an open source utopia already.

                • MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml
                  72·
                  3 months ago

                  There’s plenty of good open source software that is user friendly, like VLC. The problem is other open source software that isn’t user-friendly and takes this whole "it’s the user’s fault" approach. Folks like you just jerk each other off about how smart open source users are and how dumb proprietary software users are and it’s just so cringy.

    • MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml
      178·
      3 months ago

      And how many peoples’ friends and family are on Signal vs WhatsApp? The whole point of these apps is socializing with people you know, so can you not see how useless of a suggestion it is to recommend Signal? And please don’t get into the "just convince everyone to use Signal’ argument because it’s completely unrealistic.

      Signal did itself no favors when it made the bone-headed move of removing SMS support in a delusional attempt at pushing users away from SMS and towards Signal’s encrypted chat. All it did was result in a bunch of people uninstalling the app because it became annoying to use it just for Signal instead of Signal and SMS, which at least gave rise to a SMS user’s eventual shift away from SMS. But we don’t talk about that because open source is always good 😇

      It’s like saying modern clubs suck, so I’m going to invest my own club that the vast majority of people won’t attend and those that do are almost all white dudes with the same generic "I’m not like other users" personality.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
        210·
        3 months ago

        The whole point of these apps is socializing with people you know, so can you not see how useless of a suggestion it is to recommend Signal?

        …you can socialize with all of the same people on Signal? So no.

        Signal did itself no favors when it made the bone-headed move of removing SMS

        Signal had absolutely never done anything remotely as “bone-headed” as collecting user data and using it to serve you ads.

        And please don’t get into the "just convince everyone to use Signal’ argument because it’s completely unrealistic.

        It’s not unrealistic. Most people are happy to.

        almost all white dudes with the same generic “I’m not like other users” personality

        Ah yeah, this seems like a problem for casual racism…

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
        211·
        3 months ago

        And you never will if you don’t tell them that’s the only way they can reach you.

        As long as you continue allowing them to message you on WA, that’s what you’ll get. And everyone else will have to deal with the consequences of your actions.

        • m4m4m4m4@lemmy.world
          72·
          3 months ago

          Yeah, no. That’s not how the real world works. It’s funny to feel entitled but I can imagine my peers at my previous work saying go fuck myself if I ever told them they had to install whatever-you-say in order to be able to reach to you.

          • helenslunch@feddit.nl
            36·
            3 months ago

            I can imagine my peers at my previous work saying go fuck myself if I ever told them they had to install whatever-you-say in order to be able to reach to you.

            It’s funny that you see this sort of “entitlement” as a one way street.

            Only in my direction it aims to do nothing but preserve both your and your coworkers privacy and security and yours aims to preserve…Meta’s profits? What exactly are you defending again?

            So weird how that works.

            • MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml
              33·
              3 months ago

              Your form of entitlement involves everyone working around your preferences, and you try to justify it with this weird paternalistic "I know what’s best for you" attitude. The higher you go with privacy, the lower the convenience, and at a certain point it goes past the point of what people are realistically prepared to sacrifice.

          • Autonomous User@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            3 months ago

            It helps having friends who actually respect you. Rude people attract other rude people. Using WhatsApp won’t fix it.

    • Magister Sieran@discuss.tchncs.de
      172·
      3 months ago

      Ah yes, the obligatory “lol just don’t use $thing” response. Helps nobody, but I guess it lets you feel superior.

      I hate Facebook as much as anyone, but in the real world people don’t always have the luxury of getting to use whatever you consider morally correct. Especially with a messenger – depending on where you are, Whatsapp might just be what most people are using, and the people are the reason you would use a messenger in the first place.

      • helenslunch@feddit.nl
        317·
        3 months ago

        Ah yes, the obligatory “superiority” response. Because it’s nothing to do with trying to improve your situation or preserving your rights or the rights of others, it’s only about “superiority” LOL

        I hate Facebook as much as anyone

        I don’t think you do.

        in the real world people don’t always have the luxury of getting to use whatever you consider morally correct.

        Yes. They do. And the world is a shit place because they choose not to.

            • Asyx@lemmy.ml
              41·
              3 months ago

              Because for some reason the anti WhatsApp crowd fails to understand that the majority of the people using WhatsApp would lose any social life if they just uninstalled. It’s always the same. “Just don’t use WhatsApp!”. I’d literally not communicate with any of my family. I’d be the one weirdo that doesn’t use WhatsApp and that then maybe gets invited to things if somebody remembers to call me or write me a text message.

              • helenslunch@feddit.nl
                16·
                3 months ago

                Your family seems kind of shitty if they would refuse to install another app to communicate with you. Especially if that other app serves everyone’s best interests…

    • sandayle@lemmy.mlOP
      14·
      3 months ago

      I hate Whatsapp. I didn’t use it for three years, but I have to use it for the last two years due to my work.

      • Andy@chaos.social
        62·
        3 months ago

        @sandayle I’m really sorry about that and you have my fullest condolences. Nobody should be forced to use non-free software

    • AndrewZabar@lemmy.world
      134·
      3 months ago

      People who say this in response to a request for help should just be perma-banned. Just get rid of them flat out. It’s the sure sign that someone is a total buffoon and will only ever make the place worse.

      • verdigris@lemmy.ml
        2·
        3 months ago

        I think there’s value in pushback against popular but problematic software. Some people just don’t realize that, for example, WhatsApp is owned entirely by Meta and is known to collaborate with law enforcement, which are two facts that entirely undermine its main selling point.

        • AndrewZabar@lemmy.world
          4·
          3 months ago

          Yes and if someone was looking for advice in general then it would be appropriate. Or if this were a security sub. Or, if you had a solution available and included a warning parenthetically as a courtesy.

          But responding to a request for help with telling the person they should not do what they want to do is a tired old obnoxious cliché and nobody appreciates it. It’s universally hated.

        • Max Günther@lemmy.todayDeutsch
          1·
          3 months ago

          Privacy is not the point of OP’s question. A good answer would’ve been saying there is no WhatsApp client for Linux, and then (optionally) explaining that Signal has a desktop client and is a also privacy-respecting choice. Insulting OP by stating “You should not use this or that” is such a StackOverflow thing and helps nobody.

          Edit: Just to make sure: I’ve never used WhatsApp and never will use it.