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

submitted 6 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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[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago

And, let's be fair, for most people the real loss from this level of compromised privacy/security is far less than the real gain from helping your relationship.

Sometimes I look at products I use from dubious companies, take a step back, and think, this company is actually a blessing in my life even if there is a smaller curse attached. That said, I'm grateful for all the tremendous effort put in by many people to make the digital (and rest of) world a safer, more private, fairer and more honest place. And I try to do at least a little of my share!

[-] thanks_shakey_snake@lemmy.ca 4 points 6 months ago

Damn that's wholesome.

this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2024

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