Element One: use WhatsApp without installing WhatsApp

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What we are going to tackle today is a topic that we are sure will pique the curiosity and interest of many of you. In the meantime, we thank Element for their willingness to let us try their service for some time Element One, that is to say how to use WhatsApp without installing WhatsApp!

As you know we don't clickbaiting, so what we will talk about today is a program that will really allow you to talk to anyone who is on WhatsApp without using it directly.

Let's start from the basics.

Element One: how to use WhatsApp without installing WhatsApp

Element One it's based on Matrix, as we have already been able to delve into the past Matrix it is an open messaging protocol. Very short summary: potentially anyone can create an application to chat on the Matrix and anyone can set up a server to run the Matrix on. All servers are connected to each other and a person connected to the site server matrix.org using the Element application you can chat with a person connected to Mozilla Matrix server using a different application, perhaps FluffyChat.

The potential is therefore infinite.

One of the features of Matrix is the possibility of using bots and bridges (connection bridges). The latter are particularly interesting because they allow you to connect on different platforms always passing through the Matrix servers. Again, in short: a bridge will allow you to talk to anyone who has WhatsApp without installing WhatsApp on your smartphone.

Obviously, to be able to create a WhatsApp bridge you must have advanced technical skills and this is not suitable for everyone. And that's where it comes in Element One.

Let's now see together the advantages and disadvantages of the Element One service: how to use WhatsApp without installing WhatsApp

I pregi

✔️ write to those on Whatsapp from your smartphone (Android and iOS) without having WhatsApp installed
✔️ write to those on Whatsapp from your computer through Element without having to connect to WhatsApp Web
✔️ send messages on different messaging applications (WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and Matrix) using only one: Element
✔️ sending and receiving photos, videos and audio works without any problem
✔️ ease of use

E i difetti

❌ the End-to-end encryption of the various messaging applications will be lost, or rather it will remain the same but you will also share your messages with the Matrix server. We explain its meaning better below
❌ you cannot make video calls or calls with Whatsapp, Telegram And Signal
❌ for the first connection (and only for the first) you will have to have Whatsapp, Telegram or Signal installed somewhere to scan the QR code

Element One is a paid service offered by Element.

For 5$ per month will allow you to use the Element application to talk to your friends on Whatsapp, on Telegram come on Signal.

Registration is very simple, just go to official site and proceed with the regular registration.

Once registered you will be asked immediately if you already want to connect your accounts Telegram, Whatsapp or Signal. You don't have to do it right away and you can obviously do it at any other time. You will also be given the option to import all the messages from your Matrix account, if you already have one.

The connection with WhatsApp

Here the first catch although we expected it for obvious reasons. To be able to use first time the bridge you must have a WhatsApp open and scan the QR code that will be displayed. So you will need to have WhatsApp installed somewhere, set it only once within Element One, and then you can also uninstall it from your smartphone.

Two other conditions are necessary for it to work:

• you must have enabled the WhatsApp beta function in the "connected devices" section;
• if you reinstall WhatsApp somewhere else the connection to the Matrix server will be canceled and lost. In this case you will have to log in again with the QR code.

Once you have connected your Element One account with your WhatsApp you can use Element on the platform you prefer: on web, on Windows, Linux, macOS or obviously Android (F-Droid) And iOS.

To connect to Element One just enter as server one.ems.host and as username/password those you chose during registration.

How Element One works

When you open Element you will see that your WhatsApp messages have been imported, or rather, rooms have been created with the people you chatted with on WhatsApp because the actual messages were not imported (probably due to encryption).

You will find two tabs: one with private messages called "Direct messages" or "People” and another table with the groups in which you are registered on WhatsApp called “Rooms“.

It is also possible to speak to numbers not in the address book; to do so, simply write pm +39xxxxxxxxxx in the chat dedicated to the WhatsApp bridge and a window will automatically open with the telephone number entered.

No problems detected in sending or receiving photos, videos (even long ones) and so-called voice messages.

At the time of writing the article, however, audio and video calls are not working.

How to use WhatsApp without installing WhatsApp (losing the End-to-end encryption)

As we said before, the chats were imported but not their content. In this regard we would like to underline one thing: using Element One you will lose the End-to-end encryption of WhatsApp and messages will inevitably pass on Element's servers. Now, if this thing might make someone's eyes widen, it must be said that it was quite obvious in our opinion: to be able to use WhatsApp without installing WhatsApp it is inevitable that the messages go somewhere else before we can get to you.

Furthermore, we already know that it is not appropriate to use WhatsApp to talk or exchange important and sensitive documents and not to rely too much on them End-to-end encryption since it is a closed source and Meta application (like this it's called now the company that manages Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) is not exactly the most crystalline and sincere company on the planet ¹.

Element One can therefore be a good method to be able to talk to those who still insist on using WhatsApp only and exclusively. Obviously the goal is always to be able to do without WhatsApp completely but we realize that it is not possible or immediate for everyone to do so and Element One can be simply a compromise to not have WhatsApp installed on your mobile phone.

Things to keep in mind

• even if you are not using WhatsApp it is as if you were. The Element One bridge is doing it for you therefore Meta (Facebook) will always be able to access the metadata of your conversations ^{2 3};
• the conversations, as mentioned, will be read by Element One bots and then reach you. For this reason It is very important that you do not use WhatsApp for important and sensitive information.
• you can finally uninstall Really WhatsApp from your smartphone e do not open WhatsApp Web again!

The connection with Signal

After Whatsapp we also tried the bridge with Signal and it works identically to that of Whatsapp. Also in this case you will lose end-to-end encryption and you can write to anyone who has Signal without installing Signal if not the first time to be able to read the QR code.

You therefore lose the main advantages of Signal (security and metadata protection) but it can be useful if you use Signal mainly for frivolous reasons and just want to use a one-size-fits-all application.

As with WhatsApp, video calls and calls do not work.

The connection with Telegram

Finally we also tested Telegram. Here too the situation is almost identical, unlike the previous ones, don't miss out End-to-end encryption since Telegram doesn't have it activated by default.

With Element One you obviously cannot use the so-called secret chats but you will retain the various powers as administrator and moderator of the various groups. To explain better: you can still delete messages and ban people within the groups on which you are moderators. All through Element e without having installed Telegram.

As with the previous applications, neither video calls nor calls work.

Here too the main advantage is to use "one app for everything" because if the only reason why you don't want to use Telegram is that you don't trust or don't like the official Telegram application you can always use one of the Fork Open source and free available on F-Droid as Telegram FOSS And Nekogram.

But why persist in using WhatsApp?

Obviously, as mentioned, Element One can be a good compromise for those who cannot uninstall WhatsApp for guilt of friends, relatives or groups. It is also very fascinating that you can chat on a single platform with practically the 99% of people you know thanks to the Telegram, WhatsApp and Signal bridges.

Element One also offers, again for a fee with an extra charge, the bridge for many other platforms as Discord, Microsoft Teams, Slack And IRC. Always for the idea of using one application for everything.

We were able to use it for a month and were quite satisfied with it: no problems arose and with classic and messaging-only use it can be, as mentioned, an interesting compromise.

We only had a small problem with WhatsApp because we needed to reinstall it and, as mentioned, the login operation with the QR code had to be done again and it remained blocked on the previous connection.

In this case it was enough anyway talk with the WhatsApp bot (don't worry, by writing help you get all the commands you can use) and just writing the command delete-session all previous connections were deleted and we were able to log in again without problems.

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2. What are the differences between Whatsapp, Signal and Telegram?[↩]
3. Why Signal is more secure than WhatsApp[↩]

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