Privacy

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Safest way of using WeChat on Android? (lemmy.ca)

submitted 7 months ago by bionicjoey@lemmy.ca to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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I live in Canada. My girlfriend is Chinese (also living in Canada), and while we are able to communicate via SMS, her mobile carrier isn't the best, and so there have often been issues for us with regular texting. She expressed a strong preference to use WeChat, at least as a backup option for when texting fails us. While I have some pretty significant reservations, it's not the hill I want to die on. So my question is: what can be done to use WeChat without compromising my whole phone? I'm okay with it if our conversations aren't private, but I'd like to know that I'm not giving unfettered access to all of my phone's systems and data to the CCP. What can be done to limit the reach of this ubiquitous app on my device?

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[–] thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca 12 points 7 months ago (2 children)

FWIW, WeChat and 微信 are different apps. With a non-Chinese phone number and Google Play Store download, you'll be using the international one (WeChat) instead of the Chinese one (微信). There are still privacy concerns, but it'll be less invasive than what you'd have with the version that people in China are buying their groceries with and stuff.

I'm sorry I don't have advice for how to actually protect yourself, though... I'll be keeping an eye on this thread to see what I can learn.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

That's a great point, thanks! I will definitely be using the international one. I expect since I'm getting it through Google Play it'll be constrained based on the OS permissions I give it. And I don't intend to give it any permissions

[–] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 2 points 7 months ago

I expect since I'm getting it through Google Play it'll be constrained based on the OS permissions I give it

Getting it through google play or not does not constrain anything more or less.

And I don't intend to give it any permissions

Hopefully it won't require any to be able to keep using it

[–] a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Ah, that's interesting and makes sense. So I guess your best option (if you must use WeChat) is to use the international version of the app with as many permissions disabled as possible.

Or maybe look at the Matrix WeChat bridge? https://matrix.org/ecosystem/bridges/wechat/

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I've heard of matrix bridges before but I'm unfamiliar with how to actually set them up and use them. I understand the basic idea is that they relay messages out of matrix and into some other messaging service, but I don't understand how to actually enact that onto the element client on my phone. Matrix is so complicated 😅

[–] a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 4 points 7 months ago

I'll level with you... I've never used Matrix either. 🤣 But all the cool kids around these parts recommend it, and I fundamentally agree with the cause of the project and saw they had the WeChat bridge, so thought I'd mention it.