What is WhatsApp Plus? Advantages, risks and disadvantages

Surely many of you have heard of WhatsApp Plus , or its other variant, WhatsApp Plus Holo. It is a WhatsApp mod, which includes several added functionalities that are not otherwise available in the official version of the popular instant messaging app.

What is WhatsApp Plus?

WhatsApp Plus is a modified version of the original WhatsApp app , developed by the Spanish programmer  Rafalense  in 2012. This modification is mainly intended for those looking for a higher level of customization for WhatsApp and includes a multitude of themes and backgrounds, as well as a great quantity of emoticons impossible to find in the original version, along with a series of improvements.

WhatsApp Plus at heart is nothing more than the native WhatsApp APK, but with modified style sheets . For the rest, all messages and other information are channeled through WhatsApp servers, so the encryption system is technically the same. Also, in order for Download WhatsApp Plus to work, it is first necessary to uninstall the original version of WhatsApp completely.

In 2015, and after the massive suspension of accounts and the consequent pressure from WhatsApp, Rafalense left the project, and shortly after WhatsApp Plus ended up closing down after a massive scare by the users of the application. To this day, in 2020, there are still several copies of the application in APK format around the Internet, although most of them are nothing more than malware and viruses designed by hackers who try to take advantage of the fame acquired by WhatsApp Plus during these years.

Statement from one of the co-owners of WhatsApp Plus announcing the closure and withdrawal of the app.

In any case, we could say that the WhatsApp Plus flame is still alive through Plus Messenger (available on Google Play), an Android app that maintains the essence and many of the functionalities of WhatsApp Plus. It is based on Telegram and has been developed by the original creator of WhatsApp Plus, Rafalense himself.

Advantages of using WhatsApp Plus

Focusing a little more on what the application itself is, these are the benefits that WhatsApp Plus offers compared to the official version:

• Visual themes: This is one of the flags of WhatsApp Plus. It has more than 700 themes or visual styles that allow you to change the appearance of WhatsApp from top to bottom: background of chats, contact list, colors and texts.
• New emoticons: A good number of emoticons not available in the official version.
• Increase the limit size of the submissions: Allows you to increase the limit of sending files up to 50MB.
• Modify appearance, colors and size: WhatsApp Plus has 6 menus from where we can customize the appearance of almost everything: header, colors, size of the chat images, notifications, widgets etc.

Disadvantages of using WhatsApp Plus

The negative aspects in terms of usability in principle are quite few, since it is the same app, but with some extras. Of course, let's forget about receiving updates at the same rate as the rest of the mortals, since WhatsApp Plus is not updated as often.

Furthermore, the special emoticons only work if our contacts also have WhatsApp Plus installed. If they go with the serial version, they will only see an empty image ...

Risks of use: Warning

This modification of WhatsApp may seem wonderful, but the truth is that it is an application that seems a bit illegal, right?

So much so, that if we install the application on our terminal we can receive an immediate ban from WhatsApp , preventing us from using the original version.

Here is an excerpt from WhatsApp's statement about the use of WhatsApp Plus:

WhatsApp Plus is not an authorized application by WhatsApp. WhatsApp Plus is not associated with WhatsApp and we do not support WhatsApp Plus. WhatsApp cannot guarantee the security of WhatsApp Plus and its use may put personal and private data on your mobile phone at risk. WhatsApp Plus may share your information with third-party applications without your knowledge or permission.

Having said that, WhatsApp also indicates that we can use the original version again after 24 hours, as long as we uninstall the application completely.

WhatsApp Plus download

Let's be honest. Most of the sites that offer download links are of rather dubious origin, or definitely hoaxes with apks that do not correspond to WhatsApp Plus, viruses, or malware.

WhatsApp is persecuting the websites that link or provide this application to the public, so it is most likely that those that actually had the official WhatsApp Plus installation package have already removed their corresponding links.

Today we could almost classify it as a damn application: very difficult to find and not recommended unless we are willing to jeopardize the security of our smartphone.

In any case, there is a variant or fork of WhatsApp Plus called GBWhatsApp that is quite popular and can still be obtained more or less safely. You can download the latest version apk directly from the GBWhatsApp official channel on Telegram .

Remember that to install GBWhatsApp it is necessary to uninstall the official WhatsApp app , so we will have to make a backup of our previous chats if we do not want to lose them (from « Settings -> Chat «).

Finally, to emphasize once again the risks involved in using this app ... Of course, the majority of those who start using WhatsApp Plus -or for that matter, GBWhatsApp-, then find it impossible to return to the simple version of the application official. It is up to you to decide whether it is worth it or not.