this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2024
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submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

How can I use Whatsapp video call on Linux?

I tried Whatsapp-for-Linux and Whatsie but they didn't work.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You cant

There is no official whatsapp app for Linux and all of the apps on the store rely on whatsapp web

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Actually I never tried with Wine... It may be an alternative

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

could Waydroid be used for this?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 month ago

Waydroid has no camera passthrough. The only person willing to do that kinda vanished in Oct 2023.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

You can't send your video, receiving video and sending/receiving audio work.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Video calls are not supported under Linux afaik, since they don't enable it for the web version.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I wonder if they're supported on Windows with Chrome..? Maybe this is a case of simply replacing the UA string?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (9 children)

They don't support calling in any browsers. If I recall correctly they're using some kind of native library to encrypt and transcode the video, which the browser obviously can't use. You need to get the native app on Windows and macOS.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

I'm guessing all the people suggesting to ditch WhatsApp have never been to Brazil. Everything there is done with it, you can buy groceries, medicine, do banking, get services, take out, etc... Getting the whole country to change will never happen. So, yes, while some of us do install Signal, none will ever uninstall WhatsApp...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (3 children)

What if Meta collapses and goes into bankruptcy?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

We're seeing the fallout from a commercial service used for public interest communication falling in real time with Twitter, so many public service things that depended or still depend on Twitter have outright broke as it turns into raw sewage and people flee it. That should have NEVER been the main communications medium, and now the price is being paid. I understand as i too am in a place where WhatsApp is near-mandatory, but this is something that WILL have bad consequences sooner or later.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

Pretty much the same in Mexico

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

The UK isn't quite that far, but it's absolutely the dominant text messaging and calling app in the UK. Nobody uses the built in Android or Apple tools anymore, and I'm as likely to receive a WhatsApp voice call as an actual phone call these days.

I have Signal on my phone, but I've literally never had a cause to use it; I've simply got no contacts on there.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Using an Android emulator like Waydroid or compatibility layer like Anbox you might be able to use the Android version on Linux and pick up calls from there?

I have good experiences with Waydroid, but no experience with WhatsApp so I can't guarantee it will work, it's just a suggestion that I hope will help

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago

Waydroid has no camera passthrough

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I've had really good experience with Genymotion android emulation on Linux, even on underpowered devices. Might work well to do video calls

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Interesting

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 month ago (1 children)

The web application, which is often repacked into "native" applications, doesn't support calling. Waydroid doesn't support audio/video in/output for WhatsApp according to various Github threads.

Your best bet may be to set up Android-x86 in a virtual machine and using USB forwarding to get video working. I'm not sure what you'd need to get sound working, though.

It's also possible that Google's development emulator can run this stuff, I recall it having a webcam forwarding feature at least, but I don't know about audio or if WhatsApp will work on there.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

BlissOS is a continued version of Androidx86

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

You can use jitsi both on mobile and desktop and it is platform agnostic, privacy respecting and FOSS. Just dont use whatsapp (video) at all.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago (4 children)

Thank you, I like Jitsi but it is not always under my control. My supervisor sometimes calls me on Whatsapp and there is nothing I can do.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

My supervisor was an FOSS guy. He used Linux, Libreoffice everything but he still insisted on whatsapp for informal communication. I guess network effects is hard to avoid.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

You could mirror your android phone using scrcpy but I never used it.

There is a Qt version for it on Linux

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

For me the web version just says "my browser is not supported" even tho am on firefox

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (14 children)

Step 1: Don't.

Video calling using Signal on Linux works perfectly.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 month ago (7 children)

This doesn't help when everyone else doesn't "Don't"

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It helps having friends who actually respect you.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (5 children)

And how many peoples' friends and family are on Signal vs WhatsApp? The whole point of these apps is socializing with people you know, so can you not see how useless of a suggestion it is to recommend Signal? And please don't get into the "just convince everyone to use Signal' argument because it's completely unrealistic.

Signal did itself no favors when it made the bone-headed move of removing SMS support in a delusional attempt at pushing users away from SMS and towards Signal's encrypted chat. All it did was result in a bunch of people uninstalling the app because it became annoying to use it just for Signal instead of Signal and SMS, which at least gave rise to a SMS user's eventual shift away from SMS. But we don't talk about that because open source is always good 😇

It's like saying modern clubs suck, so I'm going to invest my own club that the vast majority of people won't attend and those that do are almost all white dudes with the same generic "I'm not like other users" personality.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

this is the way

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