Differences to WhatsApp
INFO
For help, ask in #help on our Discord or open an issue on GitHub. Please add what you tried and what the setup page or docker logs wa-classic shows.
WA Classic is not the WhatsApp app. It's an unofficial client that shows your WhatsApp account on an old iPhone, in the look of 2013. Most everyday things work, but not everything.
It's a linked device
WA Classic is linked to your account like WhatsApp Web. Your phone with WhatsApp stays the main device:
- You need a phone with WhatsApp to set it up. WA Classic can't register a phone number by itself.
- Your phone can be off. It has to come online about every two weeks, or WhatsApp unlinks all linked devices, WA Classic too.
- Everything you send on the old iPhone also shows up on your phone, and the other way round.
- Log Out on your phone (Linked Devices) or in WA Classic (Settings › Account) unlinks the bridge, so every old iPhone on it is logged out.
What works
- Chats and groups, with the unread count
- Text, emoji, photos, videos and voice messages, sending and receiving
- Replies and reactions
- Voice calls, sending and answering, also on the lock screen
- Notifications with the app closed
- Broadcast messages and new groups
- Profile photo
- Muting chats
- Several old iPhones on one bridge
What works differently
| WA Classic | ||
|---|---|---|
| Look | today's WhatsApp | WhatsApp 2.10 from 2013, iOS 6 style |
| Read receipts | blue ticks | two gray ticks, no blue (like 2.10). The other person still sees that you read it. |
| Status | photo and video updates | coming in a later version |
| Old messages | your whole chat history | only what WhatsApp sends to a new linked device, usually the recent messages |
| Notifications | Apple push | your own bridge, see Notifications |
| Videos | sent as they are | the bridge converts them so the old iPhone can play them |
| Emoji | all of them | what your iOS knows. Newer emoji may show as a box. |
| Language | many | English only |
What doesn't work (yet)
- Video calls: in development, see Video calls
- Group calls
- Status: coming in a later version. For now the Status tab only shows a note.
- Channels and Communities
- Polls, events and view once photos and videos: they don't show up
- Documents, locations and contact cards: shown as a label, can't be opened or sent
- Stickers: they don't work. Stickers sent to you show up as a white picture, and you can't send any.
- Editing and deleting messages for everyone: not possible from WA Classic. A message edited or deleted by someone else stays as it was first sent.
- Changing your name: change it in WhatsApp on your phone
- Disappearing messages settings
- Payments, business catalogs and the AI features
The bridge
Real WhatsApp talks to WhatsApp directly. WA Classic always goes through your bridge, a small program at home. The old iPhone is too old for WhatsApp's encryption today, so the bridge does that part. See How it works and Privacy and security.
DANGER
WA Classic is unofficial. Using it may break WhatsApp's terms of service, and your account could be banned.