How can I use Whatsapp video call on Linux?

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

  • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
    0·
    3 months ago

    The web application, which is often repacked into “native” applications, doesn’t support calling. Waydroid doesn’t support audio/video in/output for WhatsApp according to various Github threads.

    Your best bet may be to set up Android-x86 in a virtual machine and using USB forwarding to get video working. I’m not sure what you’d need to get sound working, though.

    It’s also possible that Google’s development emulator can run this stuff, I recall it having a webcam forwarding feature at least, but I don’t know about audio or if WhatsApp will work on there.

  • haui@lemmy.giftedmc.com
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    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.

    • sandayle@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      3 months ago

      Thank you, I like Jitsi but it is not always under my control. My supervisor sometimes calls me on Whatsapp and there is nothing I can do.

  • Eugenia@lemmy.mlEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

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

    • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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      3 months ago

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

      • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nlEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        They don’t support calling in any browsers. If I recall correctly they’re using some kind of native library to encrypt and transcode the video, which the browser obviously can’t use. You need to get the native app on Windows and macOS.

        • Treachery4524@lemmy.ml
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          3 months ago

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

          • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
            0·
            3 months ago

            Probably performance. Transcoding video is slow enough without having to deal with the WASM overhead. Plus, browsers don’t do low level network access, so if they’re working on the tcp/udp layer they’d need to wrap the entire thing in WebRTC or websockets or something.

            • Treachery4524@lemmy.ml
              0·
              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?

              • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
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                3 months ago

                Discord uses unencrypted WebRTC, yes. I don’t know what WhatsApp uses, but the connection is encrypted.

                WASM can’t talk to hardware encoders present on your CPU/GPU so performance will be severely impacted. It’s also plain slower than native code (2½-6 times depending on the kind of code).

                Using websockets, or TCP in general, is terrible for live audio and video. Normal (video) calling protocols are designed so you can lose several packets and still continue talking with minimal disruption. Transmitting that through websockets will have minor traffic disruptions become major slowdowns. You also can’t do peer to peer in websockets like you can with WebRTC or native protocols.

                Based on this blog post, WhatsApp seems to use SRTP to wrap RTP, combined with XMPP and Noise for metadata exchange. I suppose WhatsApp could wrap all that in WebRTC, but I don’t see the business advantage in revamping their entire protocol just so the dozens of “I hate Facebook” customers can call on their Linux machines. Especially as you need to run WhatsApp on an Android/Apple phone/tablet to have an account anyway.

                • xavier666@lemm.eeEnglish
                  0·
                  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.

                • Treachery4524@lemmy.ml
                  0·
                  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 :)

  • Tumbleweeds5@discuss.tchncs.de
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    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 even uninstall WhatsApp…

      • jherazob@beehaw.orgEnglish
        0·
        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
      0·
      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
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        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
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          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.

  • Fonzie!@ttrpg.network
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    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

    • AndrewZabar@lemmy.world
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      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
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        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
          0·
          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.

    • sandayle@lemmy.mlOP
      0·
      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
        0·
        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

    • Magister Sieran@discuss.tchncs.de
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      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.

            • Asyx@lemmy.ml
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              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.

    • MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml
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      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.

        • MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml
          0·
          3 months ago

          Do you have friends? You sound like you’re exhausting to be around. Like someone who burps loudly in public and somehow doesn’t understand why that’s gross.

        • m4m4m4m4@lemmy.world
          0·
          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.

            • MerchantsOfMisery@lemmy.ml
              0·
              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.