WhatsApp on your computer: Pidgin plugin

Published: September 2013

On the last months I've been working on WhatsApp protocol. After releasing an sniffer for wireshark now I've developed a working plugin for Pidgin (well, actually anything that uses libpurple).

The plugin is capable of thefollowing features:

  • Message send/receive
  • User status query (and profile picture)
  • Images/sound/location messages
  • Group support: Creating, leaving and adding participants to the group.
  • File send (alhtoughwith some issues, should allow sending ANY file)
  • Support for user status and user profile pictures
  • Read notifications

Things that need to be done:

  • Receiving Vcard contacts

Some screenshots running in Linux:

Whatsapp client

Here is the last update of the plugin. Looks promising, and works!

Windows shot

Here running on my old Windows. You can create groups and invite people just like the official client.

Pidgin screenshot

This is all for now, keep an eye on it. The sources are available at the usual place:

https://github.com/davidgfnet/whatsapp-purple