How does whatsapp work?
I'm uncertain because aiui people dont enroll in whatsapp. They dl the
app and then use it. Does this first use form some kind of enrollment?
I ask because I've used my contact list to tell if somoene has whatspp installed or not. Is it accurate to do that?
If you call and no one answers, you can't leave a voice message but I
thnk it now offers to let you send a text.
If you call and the phone is off, does the same thing happen, offers
to let you send a text?
More imporrtantly, whether you tried to call or not, if the phone is
off, can you send and they receive a text when they next turn the phone
on?
Their whatsapp number will always appear in your contact list?? Even
if the phone is off, if they have ever used whatsapp?
OTOH, one can tell if they have it installed because in my contact list,
if they do, there will be a whatsapp number and if they don't there will
not be one? Wait, that would probably only work if their whatsapp
number is the same as their cell number. Do you see why I'm befuddled?
micky wrote:
I ask because I've used my contact list to tell if somoene has whatspp
installed or not. Is it accurate to do that?
I don't understand Whatsapp well enough to answer all of Micky's questions, >but I do want to say that it works just fine WITHOUT any contacts at all.
Whatsapp does hash the contacts, but the nature of VOIP hashes for contacts >is that the salt has to be the same forever, so that's a privacy issue.
When I want to dial out, I just use the WhatsApp dialer, which itself, will
work just find if the person we're dialing happens to have WhatsApp >themselves.
It used to be the only reason I added Whatsapp was that everyone I know in >Germany seems to be using it instead of phone calls and SMS/MMS, but then
it turns out that Whatsapp also does video way better than MMS/SMS does.
Particularly when the parents of the grandchildren are using the iPhone.
I suspect RCS may make that second reason moot, over time, but I don't use >RCS yet.
On 2026-08-31 15:01, micky wrote:
How does whatsapp work?
I'm uncertain because aiui people dont enroll in whatsapp. They dl the
app and then use it. Does this first use form some kind of enrollment?
I ask because I've used my contact list to tell if somoene has whatspp
installed or not. Is it accurate to do that?
If you call and no one answers, you can't leave a voice message but I
thnk it now offers to let you send a text.
If you call and the phone is off, does the same thing happen, offers
to let you send a text?
More imporrtantly, whether you tried to call or not, if the phone is
off, can you send and they receive a text when they next turn the phone
on?
Their whatsapp number will always appear in your contact list?? Even
if the phone is off, if they have ever used whatsapp?
OTOH, one can tell if they have it installed because in my contact list,
if they do, there will be a whatsapp number and if they don't there will
not be one? Wait, that would probably only work if their whatsapp
number is the same as their cell number. Do you see why I'm befuddled?
If a contact appears inside WhatsApp, then that phone has WhatsApp
working. That's authoritative information. However, that person may
ignore WhatsApp.
You can send a WA message anytime. The other phone can be off or on, the >message is stored and forwarded when turned on.
The WA number is always the real phone number.
However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
If someone doesnot have whatsapp, and you try to message that person, WA >will offer to send him an invitation.
I don't remember what happens the first time you use WA, long ago, but
yes, that counts as enrollment.
In comp.mobile.android, on Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:37:46 +0200, "Carlos
E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
On 2026-08-31 15:01, micky wrote:
How does whatsapp work?
I'm uncertain because aiui people dont enroll in whatsapp. They dl the
app and then use it. Does this first use form some kind of enrollment?
I ask because I've used my contact list to tell if somoene has whatspp
installed or not. Is it accurate to do that?
If you call and no one answers, you can't leave a voice message but I >>> thnk it now offers to let you send a text.
If you call and the phone is off, does the same thing happen, offers >>> to let you send a text?
More imporrtantly, whether you tried to call or not, if the phone is >>> off, can you send and they receive a text when they next turn the phone
on?
Their whatsapp number will always appear in your contact list?? Even >>> if the phone is off, if they have ever used whatsapp?
OTOH, one can tell if they have it installed because in my contact list, >>> if they do, there will be a whatsapp number and if they don't there will >>> not be one? Wait, that would probably only work if their whatsapp
number is the same as their cell number. Do you see why I'm befuddled?
If a contact appears inside WhatsApp, then that phone has WhatsApp
working. That's authoritative information. However, that person may
ignore WhatsApp.
Of course
You can send a WA message anytime. The other phone can be off or on, the
message is stored and forwarded when turned on.
Very, very good to know.
The WA number is always the real phone number.
Well, when I travel I usually get a local sim, and until this most
recent phone, I could only have one sim at a time, so my cell phone
number was different from my whatsapp number. I don't know if this is contradictory to what you just said or not. In 2022 and maybe also
2019.
However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
I didn't define an alias. It just worked out that way.
If someone doesnot have whatsapp, and you try to message that person, WA
will offer to send him an invitation.
Oh, of course. I once knew that. I have an American friend who with
his wife frequently takes cruises, one within the Mediterranean, but he doesn't have parents or children, and I guess he has no need to call
anyone back home, and since it's a cruise, they don't meet many people
who are local that he might want to call when he's back home. I guess
that's why he does't have it. I've called him once when I saw something
I thought he would find very interesting.
I don't remember what happens the first time you use WA, long ago, but
yes, that counts as enrollment.
Good enough. YOuu have answered most or all of my questions and Maria answered one I didn't even know I had. Thanks you both.
The WA number is always the real phone number. However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
On Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:37:46 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
The WA number is always the real phone number. However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
Same with Signal. But you still need the phone number to set it up,
don't you?
Speaking of which, how does signal fit in the rest of the system, is it self-contained, or does it do anything like wanting to be the default contacts app or the default messaging app?
Does it need more than its own contact store? (I'm assuming Android's "protected storage" for contacts, where available, at least means it
won't access contacts that haven't been explicitly allowed for other
apps, although I wish this feature also allowed to say which apps can
access which contacts or even which fields.)
The WA number is always the real phone number. However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
On Mon, 31 Aug 2026 20:37:46 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
The WA number is always the real phone number. However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
Same with Signal. But you still need the phone number to set it up,
don't you?
I assume that with WhatsApp you need a phone number to set it up, then
you define an Alias. But I do not know. This alias thing is new.
On Tue, 1 Sep 2026 17:03:56 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
I assume that with WhatsApp you need a phone number to set it up, then
you define an Alias. But I do not know. This alias thing is new.
Apparently it's not active in Belgium yet. People can register a
username, but they can't use it yet.
On 2026-09-02 20:56, s|b wrote:
Apparently it's not active in Belgium yet. People can register a
username, but they can't use it yet.
Ah, yes, I think that happens in Spain too.
I don't really know because using an alias instead of a phone number is
not important to me, so I have not reserved one.
On Wed, 2 Sep 2026 21:04:12 +0200, Carlos E.R. wrote:
On 2026-09-02 20:56, s|b wrote:
Apparently it's not active in Belgium yet. People can register a
username, but they can't use it yet.
Ah, yes, I think that happens in Spain too.
I don't really know because using an alias instead of a phone number is
not important to me, so I have not reserved one.
I've got one in Signal, but so far I've added people who already got my
phone number, so there was no use in hiding my phone number and using
that username. But it's an option...
If I contact a plumber to do some work for me, send him photos on
whatsapp, it is possible that I pay him using Bizum, which is a system
in Spain for direct payment person to person identified by the phone number.
Just an example :-)
Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
[...]
The WA number is always the real phone number. However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
I know what you mean, but as Micky also mentioned, the WhatsApp number
is *a* real phone number. It doesn't have to be the phone number of the
phone WhatsApp is running on.
Your WhatsApp number is an *identification* number, which, in normally
most cases, is *also* *a* telephone number.
Micky already gave an example where the phone is in an other country
and has (only) a foreign SIM with a different phone number. In that
case, WhatsApp still uses your 'home' 'phone' number.
Another example: WhatsApp works perfectly fine on a Wi-Fi-only
SIM-less tablet (or phone), provided that during setup, you have given >WhatsApp *a* phone number which belongs to you. In the old days, such a
phone number could even be a landline (non-mobile) number (That was our
very first setup.). These days, that's only available for business
acounts.
[...]
In comp.mobile.android, on 1 Sep 2026 14:37:34 GMT, Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
[...]
The WA number is always the real phone number. However, since recently
you can define an alias and use that instead.
I know what you mean, but as Micky also mentioned, the WhatsApp number
is *a* real phone number. It doesn't have to be the phone number of the
phone WhatsApp is running on.
Your WhatsApp number is an *identification* number, which, in normally
most cases, is *also* *a* telephone number.
Micky already gave an example where the phone is in an other country
and has (only) a foreign SIM with a different phone number. In that
case, WhatsApp still uses your 'home' 'phone' number.
It's been several years but I think I can elaborate on what I said in
the first place . I think when I got Whatsapp I was already using a
foreign SIM , and when I got home and went back to my normal phone
number the Whatsapp number and the Phone number didn't match .
Eventually I thought this was too confusing for me , and I found that
you can change your Whatsapp number by going into the Whatsapp settings
and clicking on the place where it displays your number . I didn't
realize that was a data entry field . I thought it was a heading . So I changed it to my home cell phone number, and of course it accepted that
. I don't know if there's any validation involved and I could have just
given it any old number , maybe not but why would I want to do that ?
So this left me still confused because I can't remember what my
Whatsapp number is some of the time even though it's my USA cell phone
number and I live in the USA.That is, I can't remember that it's my USA
cell phone number . LOL
Another example: WhatsApp works perfectly fine on a Wi-Fi-only
SIM-less tablet (or phone), provided that during setup, you have given
WhatsApp *a* phone number which belongs to you. In the old days, such a
phone number could even be a landline (non-mobile) number (That was our
very first setup.). These days, that's only available for business
acounts.
[...]
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