[OnePlus 3 & 3T Cross Device Development] MSe1969:
First of all, thanks for the positive feedback. :cool:

Regarding WhatsApp:

You are not the first asking for that, so let me explain this a little bit more comprehensively (could be interesting for others reading here, I'll also link it to my other threads):

In regards to Google and Facebook, we in fact have - roughly spoken - three cases, where apps connect to both servers/services/... :

a. Apps containing Google or Facebook SDK / libraries / components, although they officially have nothing to do with G* /FB

Many developers include such things, for whatever reasons (like e.g. usage stats/crash analytics to "improve your user experience"), maybe even for some nice GUI enhancement functionalities, without being aware (or without really caring), that this stuff has a "life on its own" and collects data to regularly "phone home".

This is exactly the primary purpose for the Google/Facebook blocking in my ROM.

b. Apps using some "convenient, but not essential" Google/Facebook functionalities

Maybe the most common example of such a thing is, if a Banking app has Google maps integration to offer you to search for ATMs nearby, or if an app offers you to authenticate via Facebook or Google. Both is an option, but not necessary, as you could also simply register an own account (what I in general recommend) or in the case of the banking app use your FOSS GPS app to find the ATMs. "Simply not authenticating via G*/FB" or "simply not making use of the built in ATM search of your Banking app" however does not hinder those apps (see above, the embedded libraries have an "own life", which is out of control even for the app developer!) from constantly sending data to G* or FB by taking advantage of the granted app permissions. Also here, the blocking mechanism is the perfect method of choice. If the blocking is active, no communication to G*/FB is possible. Yes, you can't authenticate via Google or Facebook and you can't use the built-in maps integration, but the app perfectly works without, so if you don't need that, there is no valid reason for this app to connect to Google or Facebook.

c. Apps "officially" making use of Facebook and/or Google

Whilst the connection to G*/FB at first sight seems to be out of question, it has to be said, that proprietary apps from those companies do significantly more "phone home" activities, than is actually necessary to perform their "official" purpose. In fact, the only "protection" against this is to simply not use them, but look for alternatives.

In the case of Google, I e.g. allow NewPipe to connect to Google, because it simply emulates a Browser and even does not connect to YT's ad server. But most important, it is a FOSS app, so by being Open source, the chance of containing "shady" things is significantly lower than with proprietary closed source apps..

To be more precise, I whitelist

trustworthy FOSS

apps to connect to Google. This means, apps, which need to officially connect to Google, but which do not deliver additional info (read: "spy on you").

For example:

- microG

- Bromite Browser (to connect to a site, which simply uses Google-hosted webspace, and yes - also to use Google search, if the user wants - why not?)

NewPipe (see above)

. . .

Following this logic, I think I should also allow the FOSS projects/apps "Barinsta", "SlimSocial" and "Material FB" etc to connect to FB, as they aim at simply emulating a Browser to connect to FB, rather than "perfoming a frequent unofficial backup of your phone" (sorry for my sarcasm, but think about that picture, when it comes to the use of the official Facebook, FB-Messenger or Instagram app). Besides those apps asking and abusing the majority of available permissions on your phone, they are also optimized to talk to the FB SDKs of other installed apps on your phone. Hence - the blocking mechanism explained above in the cases a. and b. will be circumvented.

Now coming to WhatsApp - the last WA founder has left FB long ago, so even if WA may have been "different" from FB in the first years, after FB took over WA - these times are long gone. Even if the discussion in the media seems to create the impression, that WA isn't fully integrated into the FB ecosystem - I seriously doubt that!

For sure, it is essential to FB marketing to let their users believe so, as indeed, there is a significant WA user base not having the FB, FB messenger and/or Instgram app active on their phones, but come on... - start to think! (Take for example the following fact: Whilst WA advertizes their E2E encryption, it offers a very frequent

unencrypted(!)

chat backup to Google drive and constantly nags their users to make use of that feature, if they opt out!)

In short, if I allow WA as an exception to connect to FB, whilst having active FB blocking, the entire blocking functionality is close to useless, see above. So I am not going to give a false sense of security to the users of my ROM. If someone wants to use WA, by all means: do it, but then FB is spying on them and there is nothing, I as a ROM developer can do about that.