WhatsApp has decided to strengthen its policy against clone applications of the famous instant messaging service. Considering that they violate its terms of use and that they do not offer sufficient security, WhatsApp is now authorized to ban all users who use these unofficial applications.
On his official blog, WhatsApp has just announced its war on clone apps. These substitutes for WhatsApp, such as GB WhatsApp or WhatsApp plus, notably offer additional functions that are not found in the “real” app. They make it possible, for example, to automatically reply to a message, to exceed the bar of 250 words in grouped messages, to send more photos or to hide acknowledgments of receipt. Also note that some of these turn out to be scams or contain malware, such as WhatsApp Pink.
Designed by anonymous developers and only accessible for download outside the Google Play Store, these unofficial applications are intended to be extremely popular and bring together millions of users around the world. Only and in the eyes of WhatsApp, these third-party apps violate its terms of use. In one of its help pages, the teams of the flagship application of the Meta group have clarified their position on the subject.
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WhatsApp no longer wants to see clone apps
“Unsupported apps, like WhatsApp Plus, GB WhatsApp, or other apps claiming to transfer your WhatsApp chats between your phones, are corrupted versions of WhatsApp. These unofficial apps are developed by third parties and violate our terms of use. WhatsApp does not support these third party applications because we cannot verify their security practices ”, they assure.
In fact, users who use these clones will be able to now see access to their “temporarily blocked” account. To lift this restriction, you will have to log in again to the official version of WhatsApp. However, if you persist in using these third-party applications, a definitive ban may be pronounced against you:
“If you do not switch to the official app after being temporarily blocked, your account may be permanently banned and you will no longer be able to use WhatsApp ”, notifies the instant messaging application. If you are a WhatsApp Plus or GB WhatsApp user, the company has just shared the procedure for saving and transferring conversations to the official app.
How to save your WhatsApp conversations
From GB WhatsApp
- Meeting on More options> Discussions> Save discussions
- Then go to your smartphone settings, then Storage> Files
- Get your hands on the GB WhatsApp folder and rename it WhatsApp
- Download the official WhatsApp app from the Google Play Store if necessary
- Connect and restore backup from your device’s internal memory
From WhatsApp Plus
- See you in the settings and make sure that saving discussions is activated
- Download the official WhatsApp app from the Google Play Store if necessary
- Connect to WhatsApp: all old conversations should be there
