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WhatsApp

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WhatsApp Messenger
Developer(s)WhatsApp Inc.
Stable release
iOS24.19.80[1] Edit this on Wikidata / September 26, 2024; 46 days ago (September 26, 2024)
Android2.24.22.79[2] Edit this on Wikidata / November 4, 2024; 7 days ago (November 4, 2024)
Windows2.2429.10.0[3] Edit this on Wikidata / July 29, 2024; 3 months ago (July 29, 2024)
macOS24.16.78[4] Edit this on Wikidata / August 13, 2024; 2 months ago (August 13, 2024)
Operating systemAndroid, BlackBerry OS, iOS, Series 40, Symbian and Windows Phone
TypeInstant Messaging
LicenceProprietary
Websitewhatsapp.com

WhatsApp Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform instant messaging application for smartphones. In addition to text messaging, users can send each other images, video and audio media messages. The client software is available for Android,[5] BlackBerry OS,[6] iOS,[7] Series 40,[8] Symbian,[9] and Windows Phone.[10] The company by the same name was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan Koum, both veterans of Yahoo and is based in Santa Clara, California.

Competing with a number of Asia-based messaging services (like LINE and KakaoTalk), WhatsApp handles ten billion messages per day as of August 2012,[11] growing from two billion in April 2012.[12] According to the Financial Times, WhatsApp "has done to SMS on mobile phones what Skype did to international calling on landlines."[13]

Technical specifics

WhatsApp uses a customized version of the open standard Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP).[14] Upon installation, it creates a user account using one's phone number as username (Jabber ID: [phone number]@s.whatsapp.net). While the Android version uses an MD5-hashed, reversed-version of the phone's IMEI as password,[15] the iOS version doubles the phone's MAC address and MD5-hashes it.[16]

Multimedia messages are sent by uploading the image, audio or video to be sent to a HTTP server and then sending a link to the content along with its Base64 encoded thumbnail (if applicable).[17]

Until August 2012, Messages were sent in unencrypted plain-text format, making the system vulnerable to session hijacking.[18] As of 15 August 2012, the WhatsApp Support Staff claims messages are encrypted in the "latest version" of the WhatsApp software for iOS and Android (not including BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Symbian), without specifying the implemented cryptographic method.[19]

WhatsApp synchronizes with the phone's address book, so users do not need to add contacts in a separate book. Since all users are registered with their phone number, the software returns all WhatsApp users among one's contacts.

Security concerns

See also: Mobile security

In May 2011, there was a security hole reported in WhatsApp which left user accounts open for hijacking.[20] According to some sources, it is believed that this hack was performed, and later fixed by helping WhatsApp reproduce it on Android and Symbian, by Liroy van Hoewijk, CEO of CoreISP.net.[21][22]

Since May 2011, it has been reported that communications made by WhatsApp are not encrypted, and data is sent and received in plaintext, meaning messages can easily be read if packet traces are available.[23] In May 2012 security researchers noted that new updates of WhatsApp no longer sent messages as plaintext.[24][25][26]

In September 2011, a new version of the WhatsApp Messenger application for iPhones was released. In this new version, the developer has closed a number of critical security holes that allowed forged messages to be sent and messages from any WhatsApp user to be read.[27]

On January 6, 2012, an unknown hacker published a website (WhatsAppStatus.net) which made it possible to change the status of an arbitrary whatsapp user, as long as the phone number was known. To let it work, it only required a restart of the app. According to the hacker, it is only one of the many security issues in Whatsapp. On January 9, Whatsapp reported to have solved the issue. In reality, the only measure that was taken was blocking the website's IP address. As a reaction, a Windows tool was made available for download providing the same functionality. This issue has not been resolved until now. The first notification of this issue was received by Whatsapp in September 2011.[28][29]

On January 13, 2012, Whatsapp was pulled from the iOS App Store. The reason was not disclosed. The app was added back to the App Store 4 days later.[30]

Using WhatsAPI, German Tech blog The H demonstrated how to hijack any WhatsApp account on September 14, 2012.[31] WhatsApp Inc. reacted with a legal threat to WhatsAPI's developers, forcing them to take down the source code.[32]

Another similar security issue was witnessed on November 28,2012 when users got spam messages and ignorantly forwarded hoax messages to people on their contact lists.[33] The WhatsApp team clearly mentioned on its website that all such messages are fake. [34]

Third-party clients

Wazapp

As WhatsApp had not created a compatible version for the Nokia N9's MeeGo,[35] a community-based port of the application named Wazapp was released for public beta testing on May 18, 2012,[36] with over 2,000 downloads in two hours of its release.[37] The number of downloads increased rapidly to over 200,000 as the community actively contributed in tweaking the application and adding more features. Wazapp supports almost all the features of the official Whatsapp, including media sharing, location sharing, group chats, profiles and status updates. It can be beta-tested via the Wazapp Git. A version for the Nokia N900 is currently under development.

Wazapp was made open-source on May 25, 2012.[38]

Yappari

Because the Nokia N900 community never got an official version of WhatsApp for Maemo, a community-based port of the application named Yappari was created by user Scorpius from the Maemo forum. Current version is 0.0.25, which support sending images, updated to the official whatsapp encryption method, fixes some long-standing issues and is fairly stable, but is still considered alpha by its developer. Yappari now is a closed source application and will not be open-source or available in the repositories until it reaches version 1. There is talk of a possible merger of the Wazapp and Yappari devteams.

mojoWhatsup

A developer named Antonio Morales created a version of the app for webOS, called mojoWhatsup.

API

Although WhatsApp Inc. does not provide an open API, a reverse-engineered library is made available on github: venomous0x/WhatsAPI

Price

WhatsApp is free to download and try for the first year for all of the phone types except for iPhone. For iPhone users there is only a one-time charge when you first download the app. Other users have the option of subscribing to an additional year of service for $0.99.[39]

See also

Similar software

References

  1. ^ "WhatsApp Messenger on the App Store". Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  2. ^ "WhatsApp apk mirror repo". November 4, 2024. Retrieved November 4, 2024.
  3. ^ "WhatsApp Win Uptodown Repo". August 17, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  4. ^ "WhatsApp Messenger on the App Store". August 13, 2024. Retrieved August 17, 2024.
  5. ^ WhatsApp for Android
  6. ^ Blackberry App World Download Link
  7. ^ Beam, Brian. "WhatsApp Messenger Review (iPhone version)". Macworld. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  8. ^ WhatsApp Messenger for S40 devices
  9. ^ WhatsApp for Nokia
  10. ^ WhatsApp for Windows Phone
  11. ^ "WhatsApp hits new record with 10 billion total messages in one day". The Next Web. August 23, 2012.
  12. ^ "WhatsApp founder to operators: We're no SMS-killer, we get people hooked on data". The Next Web. April 4, 2012.
  13. ^ "WhatsApp users get the message". Financial Times. November 14, 2011.
  14. ^ "WhatsApp? Nicht ohne Risiken". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help) (translated from German at [1])
  15. ^ venomous0x/WhatsAPI
  16. ^ [2]
  17. ^ WhatsAPI/README.md at master · venomous0x/WhatsAPI · GitHub
  18. ^ "Sniffer tool displays other people's WhatsApp messages". The H Online. May 13, 2012.
  19. ^ WhatsApp FAQ: Are my messages secure?
  20. ^ McCarty, Brad (May 23, 2011). "Signup goof leaves WhatsApp users open to account hijacking". The Next Web. Retrieved June 12, 2011.
  21. ^ van Hoewijk, Liroy (May 20, 2011). "Job Section LinkedIn". LinkedIn. Retrieved May 21, 2011.
  22. ^ Tweakers.net. "Real name of Profile". Tweakers.
  23. ^ Brookehoven, Corey (May 19, 2011). "Whatsapp leaks usernames, telephone numbers and messages". youdailymac.net. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
  24. ^ "Whatsapp ya cifra los mensajes". May 11, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  25. ^ "Tweet from @davidbb". May 8, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  26. ^ "Tweet from @sp0rkbomb". May 10, 2012. Retrieved May 31, 2012.
  27. ^ Kurtz, Andreas (September 8, 2011). "Shooting the Messenger". Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  28. ^ Schellevis, Joost (January 12, 2012). "Second news item concerning the whatsapp status issue on the dutch website "Tweakers"". Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  29. ^ "Windows tool to change any Whatsapp status". January 12, 2012. Retrieved January 12, 2012.
  30. ^ http://tecnologia.elpais.com/tecnologia/2012/07/03/actualidad/1341340111_145629.html /
  31. ^ WhatsApp accounts almost completely unprotected
  32. ^ WhatsApp threatens legal action against API developers
  33. ^ "WhatsApp gets bug, spammers make the most of it".
  34. ^ "WhatsApp Notice to Users".
  35. ^ WhatsApp for N9 on change.org
  36. ^ Wazapp: A community-based port of Whatsapp for Nokia N9 and N900
  37. ^ Wazapp over 2000 download in two hours
  38. ^ tgalal (May 25, 2012). "[Announce] Wazapp Public Beta for N9". Retrieved May 25, 2012.
  39. ^ Is it free to send messages over WhatsApp? whatsapp.com. 10/22/2012

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