WhatsApp "unofficial version" warning in grapheneOS that prevents the login.

iv241

This post is not a guide, but a discussion where we can talk about how WhatsApp is silently banning selected users, and investigate the reason behind it.

My setup:

GrapheneOS
No Google Play Services
WhatsApp logged in with my personal physical SIM.
WhatsApp installed from AuroraStore

What Happened?

WhatsApp stopped sending messages (the little clock when you have no internet connection)
I reinstalled WhatsApp, then I got the message that says I need the official WhatsApp version to login.
WhatsApp does not allow login anymore if the phone does not pass the strong integrity check for this phone number.

Conclusion after investigating:

WhatsApp decided to blacklist my personal phone number (the one from the physical SIM), so during the login phase, the flag MEETS_STRONG_INTEGRITY is silently enforced at login. This flag is requested to Google Play Services, which uses hardware attestation to check the status of the phone (this cannot be bypassed in regular GrapheneOS).
WhatsApp asks for strong integrity check to a few users that were blacklisted (phone number blacklist).
What I personally think caused my blacklist:
- installing and using an alternative ESIM (I did not use it for WhatsApp)
- Started to use the function "show my last seen".
- Nothing else! I literally did NOTHING, it just stopped working.

Since grapheneOS does not pass the MEETS_STRONG_INTEGRITY check (even with Play Services installed), i cannot use my personal phone number in whatsapp in grapeheneOS, so I had to switch back to the stock ROM just so I can use this stupid app that all my friends and family uses, and to being spied again by the monopoly and the goverment.

MyIdentityIsntImportant

Have you tried installing WhatsApp from their official website https://www.whatsapp.com/download (or through Obtainium which uses that as a source)? I have installed WA from there, have no GMS installed, and can use it just fine. Perhaps the Google Play Store version of WA is different from the one they provide on their website.

iv241

MyIdentityIsntImportant

Yes I have tried that, thank you. The problem is not the APK, but the silent ban that WhatsApp did to my phone number, making WhatsApp request for a strong device integrity check.

Now, in my stock ROM after using it for a day, I got restricted for sending messages for 6 hours (cause: suspicious activity/spam). Might I be under attack? WhatsApp human support is non existent.

Dboy

MyIdentityIsntImportant How can I download WhatsApp from Obtainium? There is a lot of different possibilities. which one is the "normal" one?

And is Molly able to communicate with WhatsApp?

Thanks

W1zardK1ng

iv241 Whatsapp might have flagged your number for potential spam, now you need to login with a different device and add passkey and recovery email id, try logging in with passkey on the graphene os device maybe after couple of days. not sure whats the exact things they are checking for flagging as potential spam.

I ported my physical sim to jmp.chat and i uses paskey to logging in, been almost an year no issues so far.

MyIdentityIsntImportant

Dboy How can I download WhatsApp from Obtainium?

I originally imported it from the "crowdsourced app configurations" but it doesn't appear to be there anymore. Here's my Obtainium app config that successfully pulls & updates WhatsApp directly from the official site. You can try it, but I can't promise it'll work since I haven't shared the configs before. Import the following JSON to your Obtainium, and it should detect it properly (you might have to save it a text file first though).

{
    "apps": [
        {
            "id": "com.whatsapp",
            "url": "https://whatsapp.com/android",
            "author": "whatsapp.com",
            "name": "WhatsApp",
            "latestVersion": "430170342",
            "apkUrls": "[[\"155601810-WhatsApp.apk\",\"https://scontent.whatsapp.net/v/t61.25591-34/10000000_2408174756363910_5671450102782934703_n.apk/WhatsApp.apk?ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=c49adc&_nc_ohc=M8jb2wL6vL8Q7kNvwF-S1rD&_nc_oc=AdrhFomlnCzJoAjjeRdPbYd_bfjClUASbtJ1WKdQ5LY7e7OasnINDaAsgRs6k5mOmYs&_nc_zt=3&_nc_ht=scontent.whatsapp.net&_nc_gid=AuN5OWA6GiY0axG_UdKLiw&_nc_ss=7f20f&oh=01_Q5Aa4gGJVK1aEMZU7zNKjDRa5MxGSSEJ_kitZR47C_O2yXOHIw&oe=6A448724\"]]",
            "otherAssetUrls": "[]",
            "preferredApkIndex": 0,
            "additionalSettings": "{\"intermediateLink\":[],\"customLinkFilterRegex\":\"\",\"filterByLinkText\":false,\"matchLinksOutsideATags\":false,\"skipSort\":false,\"reverseSort\":false,\"sortByLastLinkSegment\":false,\"versionExtractWholePage\":false,\"requestHeader\":[],\"defaultPseudoVersioningMethod\":\"partialAPKHash\",\"trackOnly\":false,\"versionExtractionRegEx\":\"\",\"matchGroupToUse\":\"\",\"versionDetection\":false,\"useVersionCodeAsOSVersion\":false,\"apkFilterRegEx\":\"\",\"invertAPKFilter\":false,\"autoApkFilterByArch\":true,\"appName\":\"WhatsApp\",\"appAuthor\":\"Meta\",\"shizukuPretendToBeGooglePlay\":false,\"allowInsecure\":false,\"exemptFromBackgroundUpdates\":false,\"skipUpdateNotifications\":false,\"about\":\"WhatsApp from Meta is a popular and secure messaging and video calling app for mobile and desktop.\",\"refreshBeforeDownload\":true}",
            "lastUpdateCheck": 1780295562154610,
            "pinned": false,
            "releaseDate": null,
            "changeLog": null,
            "overrideSource": null,
            "allowIdChange": false,
            "pendingRepoRenameUrl": null
        }
    ]
}

Dboy And is Molly able to communicate with WhatsApp?

No. Molly is used to communicate with Signal.

brightjob4495

I have exactly the same issue. What I do is I have another stock phone with Whatsapp at home, and I use a slidge-whatsapp as a gateway between whatsapp and my xmpp server, then use an xmpp client on GOS to talk to the people that refuse to install Signal.

In my case, I was using a similar setup to this, using Matrix instead, before WhatsApp was enforcing the play store integrity on me for about a year. Then, I installed WhatsApp in my GOS device, with lots of permissions restricted etc. A month after that, I got banned for some reason, I'd request a review and get unbanned, and after a week, banned again, and so on and so forth during a couple of months. Now I can no longer sign in to my accont on GOS because of the play integrity check. I assume something in that process left some sort of flag on my account.

Also, I didn't accept the 2021 privacy policy change, the one about sharing data with Meta, which shows up whetever I request a report on my personal data. And some businesses can't send me messages, and I can't open new features like Meta AI, so I guess the restrictions on my account from not accepting that data sharing apply. I also wonder if that might also be a reason why my account has the restriction on needing to pass play integrity.

I'll try adding a passkey and all that, as it would be useful to have whatsapp in a separate profile on my GOS phone instead of an old phone in a drawer

brightjob4495

I can't edit my original message, sorry for the double post. I already had a verified email and a pin. I've added the passkey, although it would fail to add in either google or bitwarden, I ended up using authnkey and my yubikey, which worked. I'll wait a week and then try signing in on GOS