WhatsApp - GrapheneOS Discussion Forum

JohnPrivacy

Does someone have ever tried changing WhatsApp permission for Phone to "ignore" using adb and appops?
Did this work?

Murcielago

No, I haven't tried that.

But may I ask what you want to achieve with this?

If it's about to restrict WhatsApp permissions (if not, ignore my answer) , the following settings may be helpful:

Long press App icon> App info> Permissions> Contacts> Contact scopes.

Here you could allow WhatsApp granular access (a handy GrapheneOS feature adding on Android's one - more informationabout it here) to:

Label (you can label your contacts and then only allow access to this group)
Contact
Phone number
E-Mail

Long press App icon> App info> Permissions> Phone

Unfortunately i can't tell how Whatsapp reacts to the latter, as I don't use this messenger. But Signal and Threema basically work without Phone permission.

stupidcreature

ADB is not intended to be used on production devices so unless you are explicitely testing Whatsapp I would not suggest it.

JohnPrivacy

Murcielago
Sure! I want to change the Phone permission of WhatsApp to ignore.
WhatsApp starts to ask for the Phone permission to be able to make phone calls. This begin last year.
But I think this is too invasive.
The sim card I am using in the phone is not the one I use for WhatsApp signing.
Using the GrapheneOS granular access you can only allow or revoke this permission. On the other hand, the adb appops command you can set to ignore, and the app will receive empty message.

I would like to know if someone have ever tried this and if this works.

I just want to continue using whatsapp without this knowing the phone number of the sim card I am using now.

Murcielago

JohnPrivacy

Ah ok thanks for the explanation.

Do WhatsApp calls stop working if you deny Phone permission, have you tried that? I ask because Threema, for example, also requests this permission (albeit for a different reason - e.g. to reject legacy phone calls while a messenger call is in progress) but you can still use the messenger (also for calls) normally without granting that permission.

If this advise does not help, I hope someone who is more familiar with WhatsApp can step in to help you.

JohnPrivacy

The phone permission is necessary to make calls in WhatsApp. If you revoke the phone permission, the app don't let you make voice or video calls.

So I wonder if instead of revoking, I change the permission to "ignore" the app will do voice and video calls without being able to have access to my phone number.