sudo dnf remove friends
IMO the issue with WhatsApp isn’t that it’s proprietary. The issue is that it’s owned by Meta and it’s only free because they slurp down all your private data to target you for ads.
But there are no ads in whatsapp?
They collect your data via WhatsApp and send you adds all over the internet
Not yet, but there don’t need to be. As I said, Whatsapp is owned by Meta which is part of a duopoly (along with Google) that controls virtually all ads on the Internet. They slurp all your private data in Whatsapp and use it to target ads to you on every other internet site and every other app where they power the ads. In addition, since Whatsapp has all your contacts, they use that data too. Using what they know about you as part of the ad profile for your mom, your sister, your boyfriend, etc.
That weird blue ai circle I saw them put in the app sure looks like one fat unremovable nag-ad.
Same with the status stuff. They tried turning it into a social media by shoving crap in your face you didn’t want and making it impossible to remove. How is that not an ad?
I mean… Signal?
Signal has done nothing but good for its users and its own reputation, but the feeling of inevitability, that it’s impossible for them to avoid enshitification, that mostly people just assume it’s a foregone conclusion that signal is now or soon will be, shit.
I like signal, and I still feel the above about it.
It helps that it’s run by a nonprofit. No investors, no shareholders, no inevitable IPO.
It definitely jelps but then we also have Mozilla and other nonprofits not reaching the community’s expectations.
Does Matrix bridge somehow mean I can use something other than WhatsApp to send messages to people who refuse to use an alternative?
The bridge just uses whatsapp web (so you will still “use” it). It works like a dream but you need to trust who ever hosts it as the messages to the bridge are unencrypted. But you dont have to use their app anymore.
This isn’t exactly correct. The bridge terminates the service encryption then applies matrix encryption (if used). So there’s a moment where the messages exist in an unencrypted state, but that’s not the same as bridge -> client being unencrypted.
So yes unencrypted state exists at the bridge for a period of time, but it’s not perpetually unencrypted.
But if it is a spook or scammer hosting then they get everything
Thanks for the explanation.
Bit WhatsApp web only works as a linked device, so you still need WhatsApp on your phone?
Well I activated it and then uninstalled it and since then it works.
Sadly I don’t have bloat :(
We can be friends
(´･ᴗ･ ` )
Install me. 👉👈
Do you let people or programs access your computer unsupervised? Hell no. But I’m supposed to let another person just freely walk around my home and open cupboards and shit!? How about no!?
i would hate it if someone shat in my cupboard
Then my advice to you is not to have friends.
I too think Firenze is bloatware
But have you tried the new version with lots of very useful AI features?
I have different friend groups on WhatsApp, Wechat, Signal, Telegram, Zalo, LINE, and Discord. Is it possible to use this “matrix” to replace 2 or more apps?
Yes but for me the bridges weren’t too tekitabki. Both Telegram and Signal stopped working. May have been my setup though
That is one of the funkiest ways to spell “reliable” I’ve ever seen. Were you trying to type in the dark?
Ugh, Apple keyboard set to Estonian. I’m used to SwiftKey which can reliably do 2 languages at once, Apple requires switching manually and I switch languages a LOT. And the iOS 26 Beta killed SwiftKey, it keeps glitching out
I’ll leave it there, it is indeed funky
It’s actually the verb creates/generates in Estonian, 3rd person, being emphasised (“tekitab” with -ki suffix)
I reliably use matrix bridges to chat with ppl on Whatsapp, telegram and Facebook. If you don’t want to go into self-hosting I think beeper has a hosted version of it. Unfortunately Whatsapp is the only annoying one, as it forces you to switch on the android version once every two weeks (which you can do in several ways).
There are many more brides, but haven’t tried those myself. I’m general the “mautrix” ones tend to be very solid. https://docs.mau.fi/bridges/
I’m on an atomic distro, but rpm-ostree doesn’t have a friends module
I was able to move roughly ~80 percent of my friend group to Signal. At a certain point, I let everyone know what I was doing and how to find me. Once people realized I ditched every other platform and was fully committed, they joined.
Different people have different tolerances, but if you’re consistent, downloading an app isn’t such a big ask.
This is too relatable. The moment I see bloatware I uninstall it. I truly feel the same way about “friends.” I don’t see what purpose they serve other than take up my time and exhaust me.
Damn, that must be a sad existence, I am sorry you feel that way.
😆🤷🏼♀️ It’s funny because if you saw me you’d never guess I feel this way C’est moi & boyfriend 😆
Sometimes, “bloatware” enhances productivity if only for the mental exercise of ignoring/trashing it
if you really think friends are bloatware, you gotta install the newest update to your operating system.
s*it
