WhatsApp to start banning users for 24 hours

WhatsApp is imposing 24-hour lock-outs on
people trying to access its service via an
unauthorised Android app.
The Facebook-owned messaging service said that
it had acted against users of WhatsApp Plus
because of concerns that the program might cause
private data to be leaked to third-parties.
The unofficial app offers extra ways to customise
how conversations appear.
Experts say Android users should be cautious
about where they download apps from.
WhatsApp recently reported it had 700 million
users sending an average of 30 billion messages a
day. It currently charges a $0.99 (65p) annual fee
to users who sign up to the service after their first
12 months of using it.
"Our goal is always to keep WhatsApp fast and
secure for the people who use it - it's the most
important thing we do," said a spokesman for the
firm.
"Third-parties that have built unauthorised
functionality on top of WhatsApp create issues for
people including lost messages.
"This goes against the experience we work hard to
give people and we won't let it continue. Starting
today, we are taking aggressive action against
unauthorised apps and alerting the people who use
them."
The effort coincides with the introduction of the
ability to access WhatsApp from the Google
Chrome web browser, as an alternative to the app.
This will not, however, work on Apple's iPhones or
iPads.
Cease and desist letter
According to one app store, WhatsApp Plus had
itself been downloaded more than 35 million times
since its 2012 releases by a Spanish developer,
who called himself Rafalense.
Security consultant Graham Cluley said that figure
sounded "surprisingly high", but acknowledged
there was no independent way to verify it.
WhatsApp Plus' own website appears to be offline
at this time.
WhatsApp Plus users are being temporarily banned
from the official service
But the moderator of a development community,
which had supported it, used Google Plus to
indicate that work on the software would now be
put on hold.
"We have received a cease and desist letter from
WhatsApp and we are obligated to remove all
download links and unfortunately delete this
community," he wrote .
"[I] am really sorry for this but it's out of our
hands and WhatsApp has pushed us into a corner
that we can't escape this time. It was a fun ride
but it has come to an end.
"Deepest regards from Rafalense and me and all
the WhatsApp Plus team for your support ."
Twenty-four hour bans
WhatsApp Plus offers a way to use colours and
background images in chat conversations that are
unavailable in the official app.
In addition, it allows users to increase the size limit
on attached video and sound files and also lets
them prevent others being able to see when they
last logged into the service - a feature it used to
charge a "donation" to unlock.
To access the features, smartphone owners must
first uninstall the official WhatsApp app if it is
already on their handsets.
Facebook is urging users to download the official
WhatsApp app from Google Play
Facebook is in turn urging people using WhatsApp
Plus to delete it and install the official app via
Google's Play store. However, even if they do so,
they are told they cannot access the service for
further 24 hours because they violated its terms
and conditions.
'Maintaining control'
WhatsApp Plus was not available from Google Play
- the Android developer's own store - but was
promoted on several smaller alternatives.
"People should be careful about third-party
stores," commented Dr Joss Wright from the
Oxford Internet Institute.
"There are levels of quality control that are
implemented by Google, which withdraws apps
that are detected as being not completely
legitimate, and indeed by Apple, which is
incredibly restrictive about what it allows on the
iOS store.
"Such apps could bring with them security bugs."
But he added that Facebook also had other
incentives to stop independent apps latching onto
its WhatsApp platform.
"That could potentially prevent it from adding
services later for an added cost," he said.
"Or if it wants to add adverts later and ensure they
are being served to the people who should be
seeing them, then that it needs to maintain control
and prevent the rules that it has set from being
bypassed by third-party clients."