Sophos Cloud Optix
WhatsApp has started giving out 24 hour bans to those using a third party Android app to send and receive messages through its service.
WhatsApp Plus – also known as WhatsApp+ – allows you to customize the app with different colours and themes, and also offers the option to block contacts from seeing when you were last online while still allowing you to see when others were.
You have to uninstall the official WhatsApp in order to use the Plus service, and WhatsApp’s not happy about it.
Now, when opening the app, the offending users are being greeted with a 24-hour countdown clock and the message: “You’re temporarily banned from WhatsApp because you may have violated our terms of service.”
Owner of the WhatsApp Plus Google+ page, Dr. Mounib Al Rifai said this morning that he’s been forced to shut down the service after receiving a cease and desist letter from WhatsApp.
WhatsApp posted the following FAQ to its site:
Why am I banned for using WhatsApp Plus and how do I get unbanned?
WhatsApp Plus is an application that was not developed by WhatsApp, nor is it authorized by WhatsApp. The developers of WhatsApp Plus have no relationship to WhatsApp, and we do not support WhatsApp Plus. Please be aware that WhatsApp Plus contains source code which WhatsApp cannot guarantee as safe and that your private information is potentially being passed to 3rd parties without your knowledge or authorization.
Last October, some Snapchat users discovered just what the risks of using a third party service were.
Snapsaved.com was a third party site for those hoping to hold on to Snapchats for a bit longer than the maximum limit of 10 seconds, all without the snap-sender knowing that the image had been saved.
Except Snapsaved didn’t have quite the same security restrictions in place as Snapchat and it was hacked, leaving 200,000 of the saved images exposed.
Of course, WhatsApp has other reasons to prevent people using its service via third parties, such as potential future advertising revenue. It also only implemented end-to-end encryption on its own services in November 2014.
Our advice: Only download apps from official stores like Google Play or Apple’s App Store.
And while it’s probably appropriate to be more sceptical of unofficial apps than official ones, there are plenty of ‘official’ apps that behave in ways users might not realise or be comfortable with.
It’s worth running a good anti-virus on your phone, such as Sophos Mobile Security for Android which scans apps as you install them and at set intervals later.
You can also stay up to date with the most recent Naked Security news by signing up to our daily newsletter, or liking our page on Facebook
Image of ban sign courtesy of Shutterstock.
its now 72 hours.. haha.. stupid whatsapp team.. digging their own grave..
same here 72hrs. any solution ?
And now it is banned for 130 hrs…:(:(:(:(
Now it being banned for 72 hour, the next time might be forever
Now it being banned for 72 hour
Now it being banned for 72 hour, the next time might be foreve
same here any solution
Ya i’m also banned for 72 hours
please i need help on whatsup banned
start using whatsapp instead of whatsapp plus
“It’s worth running a good anti-virus on your phone, such as Sophos Mobile Security for Android ” Still wondering why Sophos doesn’t think security is important on Windows phones.
Same here 72 hours nice whatsup+ dude
Mine is still blocked 32hrs later and installing the whats-app on Google play doesn’t help. still banned
Same here 72 hours
Here’s the turnaround. I’ve just banned WhatsApp from my device, permanently.
Cry me a river WhatsApp.
activate on another number
72 hours banned, man its discusting
whatsapp plus was much more better then original whatapp . If they are shutting down whatsapp plus then they should must give better then whatsapp . There are millions of users using whatsapp plus and they liked it and it was much easier then whatsapp ,they must give them whatsapp plus coz after using pluss ,whatsaap is a much older app . they should reconsider before banning it or they will get into a loss of losing there many clients and people who like whatsaap plus .
I AGREE BCOZ OF LOSING WHATAAP USERS THEY ARE DOING
THAT KIND OF STUPIDITY
72 hours :'(
72hours now please help
hahahah same here also its 72 hrs if its like wise increasing then i will sitch to telegram much better than this …………
Banned for 72 Hours too, What happens next if i don’t?
to hell with these whatsapp people how can they just give us bans without letting us know the reason for the ban.
Man its 72 hours after 24. Whatsapp team you should fix it before there is a rage among them people. Its a become infamous by whatsapp plus.
I banned now 120hrs
What a stupidity
I feel user’s having their payments due in near future are being banned on using such third party services. ….:(…..Me too blocked for 72 hours…after being banned for 24 hrs last week….
just uninstall ur watsapp plus . and download regular watsap. and after 24 hr u can handle ur acc with ur msgs
My whats has been banned dont know for how many hours lastly it banned for 24 Hours.Please let me know whether it will activate after 72 Hours.