WhatsApp

In WhatsApp soon you can have a username. It’s just one more step in its ambition to become a surface

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Historically WhatsApp has been completely linked to each user’s mobile phone number. This identifier was the basis of its operation, and for example you needed it to create an account, log in and connect with your contact list. The phone number was absolutely essential, but will soon stop being in a network with More than 2,000 million users. WhatsApp had been in it for some time. It has been talking about how WhatsApp is preparing for user name support. In May 2023, certain details appeared on this option in a beta version of WhatsApp, but these changes never crystallized. Telegram supports this option For yearsFor example. Soon we will have that option. A preliminary version, WhatsApp Beta 25.17.10.70 for iOS, It has allowed discovering How will the interface be to choose a username to protect the privacy of the phone number. Although that does not necessarily mean that WhatsApp is going to implement the change definitely, it is a clear indication that the option could come. Not only that: it is expected to do it soon, before it ends 2025. Great advantages. This change raises various clear advantages that will make WhatsApp earn integers in several areas: Flexibility and customization of the service: because that will allow us to associate our name or alias like the ones we use on Twitter. Nothing to remember or point numbers. These user names also facilitate that we share that username with other people and that we better memorize those user accounts. Finding a person – or that she finds us – will be much easier. Account synchronization: to be able to use it on multiple devices will also be easier and more powerful with this system, and although WhatsApp has the traditional link -based bonding system QR codes, this type of characteristic would probably make to use WhatsApp on other devices apart from the mobile could be easier. Goodbye to geographical barriers: another important advantage, since once again when not depending on mobile number, communication with users from other countries, with different telephone numbers by national and local prefixes, is simplified. But above all, privacy. However, the true advantage of this movement is that of what will contribute to the privacy of users. With user names we can communicate with other people without the need for Share our phone number. This is very striking not to establish conversations with acquaintances, but to do it with people with whom we do it occasionally but that we would prefer that I could not access our phone number. It is also a very interesting way to prevent our number from falling into the wrong hands, such as fraudulent and spam accounts. This is the preliminary user interface of that user name request Be careful, user names will have rules. Already The rules have been revealed that we will have to meet users to use this system and ask for a “username”: They must have between 3 and 30 characters They cannot coincide with a username that already exists They can’t start with ‘www’ It is necessary to include at least one letter when creating them They can only include AZ letters, numbers 0 to 9, points and low scripts They cannot end with a domain (.com, .net, etc) They cannot start or end with a point (.) Nor have two points in a row Challenges for WhatsApp. Implementing this change after so many years also implies taking into account certain risks. Fragmentation: The current system based on telephone numbers is simple and universal, and user names can fragment the experience and generate confusion. Safety and supplantation: If user name authentication is disconnected from the number, WhatsApp must implement robust verification and recovery systems. Multiple identities: Those user names must be linked to the phone number, but it will be interesting to check how WhatsApp solves the problem of potential multiple identities, in addition to interoperability with other target services. WhatsApp’s triumph was simplicity. There is another important debate in this regard. For years one of WhatsApp hits has been to be a simple application and that solved a clear problem: that you could chat with your contacts, without more. In recent years we have seen how the application has been adding news such as States (Stories style), Channelsthe paymentsthe communities or integration with Other services of finish. More recently, of course, Goal AI. Do we need a overrapp? It is as if WhatsApp would like to become that overcomppp with which we do not need much more, but along the way the complexity of the messaging app has been increasing. It is true that the competitive pressure imposed by rivals such as Telegram or Signal causes them to be forced to move card, but in those movements there is a clear argument: that of monetization. The more functions and the more time we spend in the app, the more business opportunities there is a goal. Image | Rawpixel In Xataka | After 15 years of waiting, goal has finally done homework: WhatsApp for iPad has just launched

It aims to go beyond what ai offers today at WhatsApp with these powerful functions

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It all started with a promise. Goal announced more than a year and a half ago that would integrate generative artificial intelligence into WhatsApp. And he did. Goal AI was deployed first in the United States, then in other markets, and finally, in March 2025, In the European Union. Today it is possible to ask you things, ask you to generate images or summarize content. Of course, some functions, such as the creation of images, are not yet available in the old continent. Telegram, on the other hand, has opted for a more direct route. Instead of developing its own technology, it has signed an agreement with XAIthe artificial intelligence company founded by Elon Musk. The result is Grokan assistant with ambitious aspirations that already works on the social network X and now prepare a greater deployment in Telegram. Its objective is not less: integrate AI in user’s day -to -day life. Telegram supervitaminated with AI In a video shared by Pavel DurovFounder and CEO of Telegram, shows how Grok will be present constantly. It can be top of the conversations and will appear in the search engine, prepared to answer doubts or generate content directly from there. Something similar to what we find in WhatsApp. From there, the functions are raising level. Grok can generate images from the application itself, as a goal is already in other regions, but will also go further with assisted writing tools. That is, you can reformulate messages directly in the text field. For example, if we write “Great!” and the system would suggest something like “excellent teamwork. Keep it up!” It may seem lower, but introduces a customization layer that takes another step in the naturalness of the conversation. The list continues. The wizard can also generate animated stickers, summarize groups of messages, links or PDF documents. And those summaries will not only be displayed on the screen, but they can also be read aloudfacilitating content consultation while we do other tasks. In groups, Grok also aims to play a role as a moderator, although for now there are no details about its operation. What has been shown is a possible verification system in the public channels of Telegram. In the examples shared by the company, the AI ​​resorts to Fuentes such as Bloomberg to analyze and validate the published information, although it remains to be seen how, and if, this function will really be implemented. While WhatsApp keeps moving step by step, Telegram bets on a more ambitious integration. And he does it with an AI that not only responds, but begins to get involved actively in the conversation. It is expected that Grok’s deployment in Telegram will begin in Summer of 2025although for now it is not clear if all the functions will arrive at the same time, if they will be activated gradually or what will be the road map for availability in the EU. Images | Telegram/XAI In Xataka | Openai has just demonstrated that the AI ​​no longer completely obeys: O3 sabote its own shutdown to continue working

WhatsApp for iPad has just launched

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WhatsApp finally has application for iPad. More than 15 years have passed since Apple’s tablet reached the market And, until now, there was no official way to use the most popular messaging app in it. The only alternative was to use WhatsApp Web From the browser. That is over: goal has launched the Native app for iPad, already available at the App Store. The initial announcement has been discreet. No press releases or promotional videos: simply A message posted in X (Before Twitter) For the official WhatsApp account. In it, the company wrote “WhatsApp for iPad Now”, having hinted at the arrival of the app With an eye emoji shortly before. An experience adapted to the iPad. The new application allows to do practically the same as the iPhone version, but adapted to the screen and iPad ecosystem. It is possible to participate in voice and video calls with up to 32 people, use both cameras of the device (the front and the rear), and share screen during a video call. In addition, the app takes advantage of the multitasking functions offered by Ipados, such as Split View, Slide Over or Stage Manager. This means that you can maintain a conversation by WhatsApp while navigating the Internet, consultations documents or see a video, all from the same screen and without the need to change application. Synchronization, privacy and encryption. The messages, calls and files are synchronized between devices, maintaining end -to -end encryption that characterizes the service. If you use WhatsApp on your iPhone or Mac, everything will also be linked to the iPad without compromising privacy or security. Click on the image to see whatsapp for iPad in the App Store A promise fulfilled. In 2022, Will Cathcart, director of WhatsApp, He affirmed that “They would love to develop a native experience for iPad” and that “many people had asked for for years.” Although he did not offer concrete dates, his statement was one of the first official signals that at some point we would see the application land on the tablet. Today, that has materialized. Instagram is still pending. With this launch, target a historical debt with iPad users. But it is not the only one. Instagram still does not have an optimized version for Apple’s tablet, although its mobility use and audiovisual content edition fit perfectly with the format. In 2021, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, acknowledged that an IPAD app “would be great”, But it also made it clear that It was not a priority in the company’s roadmap. Images | Goal In Xataka | OnePlus was the last bastion of the silence button. He has just replaced him to get into the AI ​​car

How to create Stickers on WhatsApp with your photos from the stickers section itself

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Let’s explain Another method to create stickers on WhatsApp From your photos. We already told you how create stickers directly from WhatsApp within any chatbut recently the app has implemented a new different method. You will do it from the stickers section itself, with a path similar to that of create stickers packages with which you already have We told you. It is a very simple method that simplifies the process of creating stickers. And best of all, It is integrated into WhatsAppso those times when you had to use websites or external applications have already passed through history. Create Stickers on WhatsApp step by step In that chat where you are going to use the new sticker, what you have to do is Click on the stickers look button that are to the right of the writing field. It appears with the icon of a sticker. This will take you to a screen where you will see your emojis, gifs and stickers, click on the sticker icon. This will show all the stickers you already have, and on this screen you have to click on Create That will appear to the left. The first time you do this, you will have to give WhatsApp access to all your photos. Once you do it, you will go to the gallery of your mobile and You will have to search and choose the photo you want to use To create the stick. Once the photo is loaded, you will have several options to edit sticker as you want. You can use the entire photo or a cut, you can add text, draw on the image or add emojis. You can take all the time you want to adapt the stick to do it as you like. Once you have it to your liking, click on the send button And ready, you will send your new newly created sticker to the chat where you were. You can do this with any of your photos. In Xataka Basics | How to block so that your messages from your WhatsApp chats can not be shared or photos or videos can be downloaded

How to create and share a stickers package at WhatsApp without the need for third -party websites

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Let’s explain How to create and share a stickers package In WhatsApp, something for which you no longer need any external website or application. It is a function that is directly integrated into the app, and that allows you to select the stickers you want and create a pack with them. For a while now you can create stickers directly on WhatsAppand now the application has taken a step allowing you to create packs with them. Thus, if you are in a group where you have fun creating custom stickers, you can make a pack so that all members can have them. And the same if it is you who has taken their time to do them. Create Stickers Packs on WhatsApp The first thing you have to do is, when you are in any chat inside WhatsApp, click on the send button stickers. For that, click on the button to the left where you write the message, and then in the options of emojis, gifs and stickers, click on the sticker icon. This will take you to the screen where you can navigate all the stickers you have on WhatsApp, both the packs you have lowered and those that you have created manually. In it, click on the pencil icon Quete will appear above the right on the screen of the stickers. This will activate the options to edit your stickers or delete them. Here, Select the stickers you want include in the pack. Then right to the right click on the creation button which will appear with the icon of two superimposed stickers and a sum symbol. This will take you to a screen where You have to choose the name of the Stickers Pack that you will create with the selected ones. In the event that you already have created packs, before you will go to another screen where you have to choose whether to add them to an existing one or if you want to create a new one with the selection. If you want to share your stickers packthen go to the WhatsApp stickers section and go down as far as you see the pack. Then, click on the three -point button to the right of your name. When you do, Choose the option Sendand this will share the pack in the chat in which you are at that time. In Xataka Basics | How to block so that your messages from your WhatsApp chats can not be shared or photos or videos can be downloaded

Google has been trying to create your WhatsApp. With RCS it is achieving it without it seems

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Google has been trying to create its own messaging platform to stand up to WhatsApp. Without success. He tried with Hangouts, with Alloeven with Google+. All these projects ended as Stadia, Chrome apps o Android Things: closed and forgotten. Meanwhile… Apple has consolidated Issssage as its native channel in some markets, especially in the United States. And goal has made WhatsApp the default tool to talk to anyone in the middle of the planet. Google, despite controlling More than 70% From the mobile market with Android, it did not have a direct route with its users. And that is starting to change thanks to RCS. RCS is a technical standard, not an application, designed in theory to replace the SMS and offer a more modern messaging on smartphones. Let send images and videos, have reading confirmations, creating group chats … but its reach goes beyond the interface: It is the first relevant messaging channel in the Android ecosystem that does not depend on an external app like WhatsApp or Telegram. The key is how Google has managed to position it. It has not launched a new application. Has integrated RCS directly on Google Messagesthe native messages on Android. In the United States, the deployment is almost total: more than one billion RCS messages are sent every day, according to figures announced by Google. “Only” are three messages per inhabitant and day, but something is. Google controls its infrastructure, its APIs and its evolution. And he has done it without asking the user to download anything, nor that he believes a new account. It is there. Works. And more and more people use it, often without knowing it, because they believe they continue using the SMS. But not anymore: it is a RCS controlled by Google. That final nuance is key. Because although RCS is presented as an open standard, what is growing is not a decentralized network, but an RCS with an accent of Mountain View. Google has not only promoted its deployment: it has assumed its technical control in many countries, jumping to the operators. Since in 2019 he decided to offer it directly – without waiting for telecos—RCS has gone from forgotten promise to functional channel. And now, Apple. Another silent victory: Apple has been forced to incorporate it for European regulatory pressure. That does not make Imessage interoperable, but it has eliminated the largest brake that was to the global deployment of the new standard. From there, the old SMS – with its limits and compression – has ceased to be the default language between Android and iOS. It is RCS. A more modern channel, encrypted … and with owner. And that is the real change. Google has not created its WhatsApp. He has done something more subtle: He has reconverted Android’s native messaging on his own platform. Without calling it that way. Without asking you permission. Without seeming it. In Xataka | Gemini should not be called Gemini. It should be called Google Outstanding image | Google, Xataka

How to block so that your messages from your WhatsApp chats can not be shared or photos or videos can be downloaded

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Let’s explain how to configure whatsapp for prevent others from sharing your messages In the chats you have with them. It is a new option that will gradually reach all users, and we will explain its operation. We are going to start explaining the operation of this adjustment, which has not yet reached everyone but will start doing it in the next few days. And then, we will explain how its operation is and activate. How this option works When you are talking to another person, any message you send can be shared. This means that the other people with whom you speak have the option of Share your message and send it to another chat or group to show what you have said. In addition to avoiding messages, this adjustment allows Other people cannot download your photos or videosyour content cannot be lowered to your phones. In addition, your messages cannot be used for AI functions. This allows you to give important information in an individual group or chat, it can be disseminated. You can share your text messages, your photos, videos, everything you send. However, It can also be a problem for your privacy In the event that others decide to share what you do not want to share. Now, WhatsApp has decided to give you the flexibility of activating an option that allows Do not allow any of your messages in a chat to be sharedand thus make sure that nothing you say is disseminated. This adjustment It is individual of each chat or group. This means that you will have to activate it one by one in all the chats where you do not want anything you say to spread. By default, everything you say can be shared, but in the chats and groups you want you can activate the option to do not. How to prevent your messages from sharing To prevent your messages from sharing in an individual group or chat, you have to click on the chat name To access the screen where some options appear on it. Once you are inside, you have to click on the option Advanced Chat Privacy That will appear inside. Here, you can activate the function so that your chats cannot be exported or shared. Remember that this you will have to activate in each chat individually and in each group where you do not want to download or share what you say. It is a good option for those conversations where there are people with whom you still have no confidence. In Xataka Basics | WhatsApp news in April 2025: What changes and what adds the application for Android and iOS

WhatsApp the privacy seemed pump proof. Until a state prosecutor tried to erase incriminating messages

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The State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, thought he had eliminated messages that could help incriminate him in a crime of revelation of the secrets. It really wasn’t like that, because It doesn’t matter if you delete your messages on WhatsApp: Google keeps them the same. Now we have known that these messages seem to have been successfully recovered, and the question is: how have you managed to read those messages? Metadata to compare other data. During the investigation, the UCO also registered the electronic devices of the provincial chief prosecutor of Madrid, Pilar Rodríguez, they point out In 20 minutes. The content of the Zip folder held by the magistrate could also have been sent by goal/WhatsApp, which would not have sent the messages – it can not theoretically have no access to them – but the metadata of those conversations of García Ortiz. These metadata could serve to compare and contrast Rodríguez’s messages – which did retain those conversations – thus providing evidence for the attribution of the Attorney General. Of deleted, nothing. As they point out in the confidentialthe magistrate of the Supreme Court, Ángel Luis Hurtado, has indicated that the effort to try to recover the messages deleted by the State Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, seems to have been “successful.” The latter It is charged for an alleged crime of revelation of secrets. Google and WhatsApp lend their help. The Central Operating Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard will be responsible for making an expert report on the messages. The Supreme Court indicated In the country In January, he made a request to the Irish delegations of Google and WhatsApp (Meta) through Eurojustan agency for judicial cooperation in criminal cases. It is not specified which has responded, but the magistrate has received documentation in a Zip folder that seems to contain the messages deleted by García Ortiz in October 2024. How have you managed to read? The essential question is, of course, how it is possible that justice has ended up having access to those messages. The UCO already proved that García Ortiz erased his WhatsApp messages not one if not twice on October 16, 2024, when he was charged. He even changed telephone and reached the factory that he had been using until that moment. The alleged reason was to prevent such messages from incriminating him, but it turned out that this was not enough. The theory of metadata is a strong option, but there are others. End -to -end encryption is there. To begin with, we must clarify that WhatsApp has been using a protocol for years end -to -end encryption For all conversations. Only who sends the message and who (or who receives it can read them, but no other person or entity can decipher those messages. Not even goalthrough whose servers they send and forward texts, images, video or any other type of content. The key was not there, and there are other ways to access those messages. Option 1: physical access to the device. The most obvious way to access a user’s WhatsApp messages is to have physical access to your mobile device. In that case, forensic experts can, with the appropriate tools, obtain the key to decipher the messages from the WhatsApp database, even if they have been deleted. Here García Ortiz erased the messages and restored the terminal to his factory status, which probably made it impossible to recover them from the device even having physically access. But there was another way. Option 2: Surely Backing Copies. This is probably the key to the success of having recovered the messages of the Attorney General. In WhatsApp users can back up their messages in cloud services such as Google Drive or Apple Iloud, but attention: by default those backup copies are not encrypted. It is the users who must proactively enable encryption in backupsand maybe García Ortiz did not. That would have caused Google, to which help was requested, could access that data to send them to the case magistrate. If you want to delete your messages, be careful with backups. WhatsApp users cannot do anything with metadata, which does keep a finish line, but with the messages if they want to erase them effectively. As this case teaches us, it is not enough to delete them from our phone: if we make backup copies of our messages, it is important to activate the encryption of said backup copies. But special notice about backup copies. Special care with the encryption of backup copies, because it does not work as extreme encryption. The copies are encrypted with a password/password that you only know, and therefore it is convenient that it is strong not to be broken with brute force attacks, for example. WhatsApp in fact gives the option to create a 64 -digit key, but … she does it. Here are suspicions about how they manage that encryption password in Google/Apple/Meta, and if they can decipher it in some way for potential judicial requests. Be that as it may, the other solution, of course, is not to back up the messages of the messages unless you consider it absolutely essential. Image | State Council | Brett Jordan In Xataka | If the question is whether your company can add you to a WhatsApp group of work, the law leaves no doubt: it depends on who pays

How to make direct access to goal AI on WhatsApp on your Android desktop

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Let’s explain How to create direct access to WhatsApp ai On the Android desktop, in order to enter the chats directly with artificial intelligence. We talk about Goal AIthe artificial intelligence that has been integrated into WhatsApp with A blue circleand it is something similar to having Chatgpt in WhatsApp. The blue circle of this AI is putting the users of nerves, because cannot be removed. But if you have managed to take advantage of the Meta AI functions at WhatsApp And you usually use it, it may seem useful to have a direct access to it on the desk, as if it were the icon of an independent app but pointing to the chat you have with it. Direct access to goal AI on WhatsApp The first thing you have to do is enter the chat you have with goal AI, either from the chat list if you have already started one or clicking on the blue circle. Once inside, click on the goal name AI above allin the name that the verified symbol has next to it. This will take you to the goal profile AI in WhatsApp, where you can configure chat elements such as notifications. Here, click on the options button with the three -point icon on the right, and Choose the option Create direct access which will appear in the drop -down menu. And that’s it. Only with this You will create direct access to goal AI in WhatsApp On your Android desktop, and you can place it on the site you want. You can put it in any desk grid or change desktop, all to your liking. In Xataka Basics | Goal AI in WhatsApp: 17 functions and tricks of the blue circle with the artificial intelligence chat

The EU wants to corner the privacy of WhatsApp and Signal with rear doors. In France the play has gone wrong

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The National Assembly of France vote On March 20, a fundamental issue for the privacy of its citizens. One that put into play the confidentiality of their conversations in messaging applications such as WhatsApp or Signal. Rear doors. As they point out In EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), the French proposal was disturbing. The objective was to force messaging platforms such as WhatsApp or Signal to create “rear doors” that allow hidden access to private conversations. The proposal is part of measures with the argument of avoiding child pornography (sexual Child abuse material, CSAM). We are waiting for you in territory s Do you like Samsung? We have a new specialized medium in Samsung and its products with tricks, offers, tutorials and all news about the brand. Go to territory A for mass surveillance. The law proposal raised a spectacular tool for mass surveillance. One who already tried adopt in the United Kingdom in 2019 and that would allow security agencies to join encrypted chats without their participants getting tale. Terrible for privacy, but also for security. The threat not only affected our privacy, but the security of these applications. The experts They criticized Already in 2019 the proposal and They warned that it could serve to introduce systemic vulnerabilities or create tools that many would end up abusing. The French organization La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), which defends the fundamental freedoms of the digital world, He urged a mobilization Against this “drug law” that among its options included this theoretical creation of rear doors. Of that, nothing. Fortunately for privacy defenders, French legislators voted against said proposal, allowing these platforms to continue to continue operating with end -to -end encryption that protects the confidentiality of these communications. A difficult victory. As indicated in the EFF, this victory was not easy, and only came after popular pressure, expert comments “and the support of civil society.” Even so, they warn, the pressures will follow to try to activate measures that mining the privacy of our communications, “perhaps repaired, or put in full speed through quieter legislative moments.” That is also the danger: that these laws end up being approved in a deceptive way and as part of broader and more generic laws. Blissful chat control. Last September the Presidency of Hungary of the European Union Council recovered the proposal of the so -called Chat Control, that is, the end -to -end encryption elimination. There was a first attempt that was rejected, but during the summer the threads began to be moved for review, the called chat control 2.0 that is in development. The new proposal relaxes the terms. Chat Control 2.0 is still worrying. The proposal Published by the Presidency of Poland of the Council would make the scan of these “voluntary” conversations and would be classified as preventive. The experts They believe That this proposal is a step in the right direction to protect the right of European citizens to maintain their private digital correspondence. The Government of Spain wants rear doors. Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Spanish Interior Minister, is one of the great defenders of the rear doors. In a 2023 document he presented how it is “imperative that we have access to the data.” There are many other European countries in favor of this type of measures, and as explained in the activist organization ChatControl.EU “Created by Patrick Breyer, of the German Pirate Party,” the risks to privacy are important. Image | Nathan Dumlao In Xataka | A rear door 30 years ago has compromised all US safety. Europe wants to make the same mistake

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