End of Support
Dear community,
Earlier last year, WhatsApp announced plans to end support for Nokia S40 devices by December 31st 2018. These Nokia credentials are the ones I used to develop the WhatsApp plugin to be compatible with Disa’s open framework. Since then, I've done a lot of research on attempting to find other ways to allow continued support for the plugin well beyond December 31st 2018 when WhatsApp’s Nokia S40 support ends. This was a great deal of work as the new authentication system that these platforms use had to be tested.
All was going really well with the new authentication system running using another device's credentials, until the WhatsApp plugin users started getting banned for contacting people on WhatsApp they have never spoken with before. After trying many different tactics (including trying all the other possible platform credentials) in attempt to rectify these bans, I realized that WhatsApp is starting to use push notification tokens as a signal for ban detection. As of yet I have not found a way to circumvent that.
As of February 15, 2018, WhatsApp has also disabled any new user from registering their WhatsApp account without the push notification token. Unfortunately, I’ve had to disable the Setup Wizard from any new authentications, notifying new users that registration is now closed (at least until I can find another way to support the plugin further).
Therefore, as a big fan and supporter of Disa I feel compelled to protect the many users using Disa from getting banned. It’s an amazing open source project that I love and I know many love too so, to protect Disa’s integrity as an open source project from being damaged by users possibly getting banned, my WhatsApp Plugin support will end in alignment with WhatsApp's plans to end Nokia S40 devices December 31st 2018.
What does this mean for me?
Current Users:
Current users of my WhatsApp plugin you will be able to use the plugin until December 31st 2018 (as long as you do not log out, because you will not be able to log back in).
New Users:
New users that have not yet used my WhatsApp plugin as of this week have not been able to login as it seems WhatsApp servers have begun to deprecate the Nokia S40 build support. New users will not be able to use the WhatsApp plugin until I find another way or WhatsApp creates their own plugin for Disa.
What I Recommend:
If you are using the WhatsApp Plugin on Disa as a WhatsApp official application replacement, I recommend that you switch to the official WhatsApp on or before December 31st 2018. Luckily the official Disa team has been informing me and the rest of the Disa test community that they will be releasing a new tool for exporting any important conversations in an app update throughout the next week. Use it if needed to save conversations.
I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused - it has been my great pleasure of providing a third-party implementation of WhatsApp for the past two years. Disa is an amazing platform for an open society and the best messaging organization tool I have seen yet. I really hope to solve this issue and continue support, but if I can’t I hope this doesn’t negatively affect an amazing project. This should empower more developers and users to help them add more services. The world needs Disa!
If one day WhatsApp decides to remove their banning system, I will continue to support Disa's WhatsApp in a heartbeat. Although I love supporting the plugin for everyone in this community with me, I do wish one day WhatsApp will see how Disa brings them more users and usage and will develop a plugin themselves.
Please refrain from leaving any bad comments, reviews, or blog posts on Disa’s platform or the Play Store. Disa is an extensible framework - the end-of-support for the WhatsApp Plugin does not reflect their product whatsoever. Since I took over the plugin development as a third party they have been working on other features, services, and projects. I will hate to negatively affect the reputation of the framework I love so much as a community member.
As a final note, the Disa team has a huge update that’s close to being rolled out to everyone. Along with others I’ve alpha tested some of their new updates coming to beta and am very excited for the addition of new services. Stay tuned!
https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000617/WhatsApp-support-for-mobile-devices
Best regards,
Sean.