WhatsApp sends legal letters to indie developers

WhatsApp can now play videos from Facebook and Instagram from inside the app – at least on the iOS version. — dpa

WhatsApp's use of Cease and Desist letters against Android apps it deemed infringed its service has drawn flak online, after the apps' developers aired their grievances about the aggressive measure. 

The developers behind notification manager app DirectChat and Can’t Talk, which generates auto-reply messages on messenger platforms including WhatsApp, independently posted that WhatsApp sent them Cease and Desist letters demanding they remove the offending functionality from their app or face litigation.

However, the developers argue that their applications function using standard Android APIs – Notification Listener and Direct Reply – without using any of WhatsApp's APIs.

Xda developers, who highlighted these letters, noted the letter did not specify which parts of the apps violated WhatsApp's API terms, while the demands to strip the apps of any functionality related to WhatsApp were deemed “dubious at best, and malicious at worst”.

The site also claims to have confirmed the authenticity of the original letter, and was awaiting a response from WhatsApp's parent company, Facebook. 

In a post on Reddit, DirectChat's developer explains that their app uses Google's Notification Listener API and does not interact with any third party messengers or take their data through illegal methods; it simply fetches notifications and displays them in bubbles form.

“This e-mail doesn't just harm my application but it means potentially all other notification manager apps that are available can be banned if WhatsApp continues to persue their ill approach. Developers no longer have freedom to be creative and enhance user experience if big giants like them keep on tormenting them,” says the developer, who adds that they are still studying and have no budget to hire a lawyer.

Meanwhile, Can’t Talk's developer Rob J posted on Medium that a “a rather large company (think Google large)” requested he remove the apps from the Play Store.

He removed the app due to fear of legal repercussions. 

“It’s not so much the pulling of the app that bothered me as much as the principle. The problem with something like this for an indie dev like myself is just that, I am an indie dev. I don’t have a lawyer on retainer. I don’t have the legal knowledge to know if this is a meritorious claim,” he says. 

The posts drew hundreds of comments discussing the validity of such legal measures, with many respondents accusing WhatsApp of being heavy handed and bullying smaller developers over questionable legal grounds.