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That's still one device. If you turn the primary phone off, the secondary device stops working. WhatsApp just proxies everything through the primary device, it'

by stavros 7mo ago

That's still one device. If you turn the primary phone off, the secondary device stops working. WhatsApp just proxies everything through the primary device, it's like WhatsApp Web.

taminka 7mo ago
oh, i see, is it the same for facebook messenger and instagram, imessage, etc?
- stavros 7mo ago
  I don't know, I don't use those. It is for Signal, I don't think so for Instagram, since I don't think that encrypts end to end.
  - lxgr 7mo ago
    It's not true for Signal either. Why don't you try it for yourself instead of spreading outdated (at best) information? Signal supports native multi-device capabilities without relaying everything through the "primary" device.
- TeMPOraL 7mo ago
  Messenger seems to be properly multi-device, but you pay for this by some PIN code bullshit (maybe they removed that, I haven't seen a popup about this for over a year now?) and having to sync chat history in the background, through a process that is, of course, broken and unreliable. I'm actually still jaded about this. Messenger worked fine before they broke it by introducing E2EE; it took years for them to fix the problems this caused (at least the ones that were immediately user-perceptible).
  - taminka 7mo ago
    yeah messenger still has the pin code thingy, i'm curious why they do it at all that way, can't you just have your keys on fb servers encrypted with another set of keys derived from your password, which is much stronger than a 4-6 digit key?
  - alex1138 7mo ago
    It's still broken if you're like me and you clear cookies "Let's take people's years-long history between each other and just utterly break it. Why? 'privacy'" but they've never cared about it, they're opportunistic fucks. It's Zuckerberg's company to do with it "as he wishes" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16770818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16770818
canpulseword 7mo ago
This is not true, even if the primary phone is offline you can send messages via secondary device, even whatsapp web It’s not proxied via primary, otherwise it wouldn’t work if primary were offline
- stavros 7mo ago
  > It’s not proxied via primary, otherwise it wouldn’t work if primary were offline That is correct, it doesn't work.
  - lxgr 7mo ago
    Please stop spreading misinformation that can trivially be disproved with five minutes of effort.
    - stavros 7mo ago
      I just tried it. Did you?
      - lxgr 7mo ago
        Yes, and it works, as it has for the past few years.
        stavros 7mo ago
        So I don't need my primary device any more? I can just shut that phone down forever?
        lxgr 7mo ago
        No, I think you need it to be online once every 30 days or so. That's a much weaker requirement than what you were disputing, though.
      - akdev1l 7mo ago
lxgr 7mo ago
They used to, but that hasn't been true for a few years now. Now it uses the Signal protocol's native multi-device capabilities, specifically in the "key per device" variant (unlike signal itself, which uses "key per account" if I'm not mistaken).
wisenull 7mo ago
It used to be like that but not anymore. As siblings suggested you can now use it on up to 4 (I believe) additional devices.

by stavros 7mo ago

That's still one device. If you turn the primary phone off, the secondary device stops working. WhatsApp just proxies everything through the primary device, it's like WhatsApp Web.

taminka 7mo ago

oh, i see, is it the same for facebook messenger and instagram, imessage, etc?

stavros 7mo ago
I don't know, I don't use those. It is for Signal, I don't think so for Instagram, since I don't think that encrypts end to end.
- lxgr 7mo ago
  It's not true for Signal either. Why don't you try it for yourself instead of spreading outdated (at best) information? Signal supports native multi-device capabilities without relaying everything through the "primary" device.
TeMPOraL 7mo ago
Messenger seems to be properly multi-device, but you pay for this by some PIN code bullshit (maybe they removed that, I haven't seen a popup about this for over a year now?) and having to sync chat history in the background, through a process that is, of course, broken and unreliable. I'm actually still jaded about this. Messenger worked fine before they broke it by introducing E2EE; it took years for them to fix the problems this caused (at least the ones that were immediately user-perceptible).
- taminka 7mo ago
  yeah messenger still has the pin code thingy, i'm curious why they do it at all that way, can't you just have your keys on fb servers encrypted with another set of keys derived from your password, which is much stronger than a 4-6 digit key?
- alex1138 7mo ago
  It's still broken if you're like me and you clear cookies "Let's take people's years-long history between each other and just utterly break it. Why? 'privacy'" but they've never cared about it, they're opportunistic fucks. It's Zuckerberg's company to do with it "as he wishes" https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16770818 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16770818

canpulseword 7mo ago

This is not true, even if the primary phone is offline you can send messages via secondary device, even whatsapp web It’s not proxied via primary, otherwise it wouldn’t work if primary were offline

stavros 7mo ago
> It’s not proxied via primary, otherwise it wouldn’t work if primary were offline That is correct, it doesn't work.
- lxgr 7mo ago
  Please stop spreading misinformation that can trivially be disproved with five minutes of effort.
  - stavros 7mo ago
    I just tried it. Did you?
    - lxgr 7mo ago
      Yes, and it works, as it has for the past few years.
      - stavros 7mo ago
        So I don't need my primary device any more? I can just shut that phone down forever?
        lxgr 7mo ago
        No, I think you need it to be online once every 30 days or so. That's a much weaker requirement than what you were disputing, though.
    - akdev1l 7mo ago

lxgr 7mo ago

They used to, but that hasn't been true for a few years now. Now it uses the Signal protocol's native multi-device capabilities, specifically in the "key per device" variant (unlike signal itself, which uses "key per account" if I'm not mistaken).

wisenull 7mo ago

It used to be like that but not anymore. As siblings suggested you can now use it on up to 4 (I believe) additional devices.