Did they block Whatsapp Web on mobile browsers? - whatsapp

I am pretty sure that I successfully connected to Whatsapp Web from a mobile browser an year or two back. I opened the site www.web.whatsapp.com, the usual desktop interface showed up, and I scanned the QR code using a whatsapp account on another phone, and I was logged in from the mobile browser just as I'd be from a desktop browser.
When I try it these days, as of 2020, it doesn't happen. The url www.web.whatsapp.com is automatically and invariably redirected to www.whatsapp.com.
Did they purposely block this avenue, or is it something to do with my devices?
Was this feature undesirable to Whatsapp in any way?

You have to tell your browser to open it as a desktop site.
On iPhone: click on Aa letters in the browser and click "Request Desktop Website".
On Android: click on three dots in the URL section and check "Desktop site".

Related

Whatsapp API not Working On desktop and PHP page

Good Day
I had a Whatsapp API I used in a URL to send a Whatsapp to a specific person or group in my contact list. Below is the code I used.
https://api.whatsapp.com/resolve?deeplink=/%3Ftext%3D%252AeTrack%2BNational%2BLookout%253A%252A
It normally worked fine and no issues. Now looks like Whatsapp page has been removed. I need a similar external link to send messages from my PHP page to a whatsapp contact or group. We use either Whatsapp Web or their Downloaded app on Windows. On our Android phones the link still works and opens Whatsapp and we can select the recipient. But using Chrome and a Windows system it does not open Whatsapp anymore.

Whatsapp share link does not work in safari

I'm using this approach: https://stackoverflow.com/a/25796908/3437433
It works like a charm, but when I'm trying to use it in Safari (both desktop and mobile), then quite strange things happen.
On desktop, origin link https://wa.me/?text=123 is somehow replaced with whatsapp://send?text=123. And then Safari displays error page about wrong protocol.
On mobile, correct page is opened by origin link, but also alert appears saying "can't open page because url is wrong". I can close that alert, can click on "send" button, but then https://whatsapp.com/download/ page is opened, instead of prompting to login to whatsapp and redirecting to chat.
Does anybody know what's going on here and whether it can be fixed?
We usually differ link at desktop view and mobile view to offer support for safari and other browser.
for desktop view we use
https://web.whatsapp.com/send?phone=6200000000&text=Hello%20Moxqitto
for mobile, we follow whatsapp best practice https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/26000030/
https://wa.me/6200000000
Tested on
Chrome for mac
safari for mac
android chrome
Ps: not tested when mac have whatsapp desktop app, but it will still work in the safari itself. so it should be ok
Official Sharing Documentation For WhatsApp. They say to use their wa.me/... URL. Okay! So let's try it out! http://wa.me/?text=mytest For me, I get an error message...
PAGE NOT FOUND
However, these seem to work great for me!
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=YourShareTextHere
https://api.whatsapp.com/send?text=YourShareTextHere&phone=123
If you are interested in watching a project that keeps track of these URLs, then check us out!: https://github.com/bradvin/social-share-urls#whatsapp

Switch launched browser according to clicked URL on Outlook

Our company use some in-house web systems for daily business operations. These systems are optimized to IE, and don't function properly when you access to those applications via Chrome or Firefox.
I am using mattermost and GitHub Enterprise for development environment. These services limits functionalities when you access to those services via IE.
I have to set the default browser to IE according to guidelines in our company (and administrators can reset the default browser to IE).
So when I receive a mail that contains a URL of GitHub pull request, I have to launch Chrome, copy the URL in the mail, and paste it to addresses bar (you also have to close IE window if you clicked the URL by mistake).
I want Outlook to launch IE when I click the URL of the in-house web system, and launch Chrome when I click the URL of mattermost or GitHub Enterprise.
My question is: How can I change launched browser according to clicked URL on Outlook?

Javascript Facebook sdk - captive portal on mobile devices

We are setting up a web app which serves as a wi-fi hotspot using coova chilli and the Javascript Facebook SDK.
The app has a "login with facebook" button that, once clicked, calls the FB.login() function, which opens a pop-up window where the user can insert his credentials and log in.
This solution is working correctly in desktop browsers but it's not working in mobile devices.
These are the problems I encountered:
Android device - When I connect to the wifi network, the system prompts a notification who says "Sign in to wifi network". Once clicked, the captive page opens up correctly. But when I click the fb login button, I am redirected to the url "http://m.facebook.com/v2.8/auth ..." which is correct, but then the windows freezes and I can see only a wsod.
IOS device - same as before, the cna triggers, the redirect to the fb login page works, but once I insert my credentials, the only thing I can see is a wsod.
Both issues can be bypassed by including apple.com, google.com and other domains used for auth in the hotspot walled garden, and then the user can log in to the network by using the device's browser - Safari or Chrome, it works - as pointed out in this discussion Facebook login on Apple CNA.
The thing is, we want to make it work on the "normal" workflow, that is, to make the app work correctly within the IOS captive network assistant and the Android "sign in to wi fi" functionality.
Do you have any idea how can we solve this? We searched far and wide without any success. Thank you.
EDIT
Solved by using PHP SDK instead of javascript. By generating a login link as explained here. This works also on mobile captive portal assistants such as ios and android ones because the fb login page is opened in the same window and not in popup/iframe. I hope this helps others that may encounter the same problem.

Error message while Sharing web url in a browser via whatsapp and whatsapp is not installed in the particular device

I am developing social sharing plugin where I want to share my web application url in a browser using whatsapp for mobile device. I am using below code:
"whatsapp://send?text=Hello%2C%20World!"
Using above code, when I try to share without whatsapp installed in the device, it opens up a blank page.
If the user is sharing it via whatsapp and the device doesn't have whatsapp then how can we notify the user that whatsapp is not installed or redirect user to appstore or playstore to install whatsapp?