GB WhatsApp: Ins And Outs Of Amorphous Messaging Platform Rivalling Original App

• Modified versions of the original WhatsApp have had traction among its users who leverage the additional features in them
• A user of a WhatsApp mod such as GB finds pleasure in, among other things, reading an erroneous message the sender might have deleted
• Unlike the original version, which is sourced from the Google Play Store, and App Store for iOS users, the clones are downloaded from APK links from web backstreets

Eli, a journalist at TUKO.co.ke, brings over three years of experience covering politics and current affairs in Kenya.

Included in the crops of people who have become infamous for their undertakings are users of clone apps that ape WhatsApp.

It is now a new phenomenon to crack why someone would choose to ghost-view a contact's status update and be calm about it.

Birthed in 2009, the real WhatsApp has revolutionalised communication the world over to date owing to its convenience and urgency nature.

GB WhatsApp and the like

This was until its modified versions started appearing on the internet.

It is not uncommon today to stumble upon users of GB WhatsApp, FM WhatsApp, Yo WhatsApp, and their other copycats.

Whilst the centrepieces of the instant messaging mods are similar to that of the original app, they have with them features that users believe separate them from the rest.

The users are thus under the illusion that they are the smartest in the mix.

Are GB WhatsApp users as smart as per their illusion?

However, some quarters hold the 'popular' opinion that users of GB WhatsApp and such are emblems of mediocrity and frivolity.

Some even conclude that those with these apps are a semblance of walking 'red flags'.

Those with the above conclusion argue that the app is custom-made for philanderers in relationships, lady two-timers, unreliable business partners, stalkers, and other kinds of people with insane motives.

All their dishonest undertakings can be accommodated in such apps without anybody catching up with them, it is believed.

A user of GB WhatsApp can decide to read a message and opt not to respond to it, with the sender getting false feedback that the message was not delivered or read at first.

This is because there is the option to disable double grey ticks that connote the delivery of a message, and the double blue ticks that indicate the message was read.

They can be active online for the long they will without a trace.

Other merits of the mods are a customised theme, dual accounts on one device, auto-reply, more than 30-second long video status, and more.

Also, a typical GB WhatsApp user can read a message that landed in their inbox but the sender deleted it, and view a status update that a contact in their list deleted.

In essence, no wrong can be righted in front of a GB WhatsApp user.

But why would one want to keep records of an erroneous message or status update that the author deleted for reasons best known to them?

Those detesting the GB users liken them to capital offenders owing to their wayward machinations with those apps.

Meta's fight with clone apps

Unlike the original version, which is sourced from the Google Play Store, and App Store for iOS users, GB and the like are downloaded from APK links from web backstreets.

Despite the traction the mods have enjoyed over the years, WhatsApp's parent company has flagged them as unauthorised.

It is believed that the apps downloaded from the APK links contain malware that may have adverse effects on the user's device.

As it were, any application sourced from the Google Play Store, or any other authorised third-party app store, has with it Play Protect that checks apps and devices for harmful behavior.

To counter the wave of GB, the owners of WhatsApp occasionally ban accounts running on the former.

Users who insist on using it are sometimes banned from the original WhatsApp permanently.

The original app is owned by Meta Platforms, an American multinational technology conglomerate based in California.

Its sister platforms are Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.

WhatsApp's new feature

Perhaps to catch up with the modified versions like GB, Meta in the month of May this year introduced a new feature on WhatsApp.

The said feature would enable users to lock conversations they deem confidential.

Mark Zuckerberg, a co-founder of Meta Platforms, elaborated that a user could create a password-protected folder into which the confidential chats would be deposited.

Despite a prompt, no notification would come forth to announce a new message until the folder is opened.

This meant the secret chats would not appear in the WhatsApp feed like the unlocked ones.

"New locked chats in WhatsApp make your conversations more private. They're hidden in a password-protected folder, and notifications won't show sender or message content," said Zuckerberg.

A user could use a password or biometrics to secure the folder.