Show HN: spent a weekend “hacking” the UI of WhatsApp, then published two addons

2 pointsby IvoCass6 lat temu2 comments

I had a need for two missing features in WhatsApp and Messenger, and as I'm used to modifying the sites I use the most (JavaScript injection with TamperMonkey) I eventually went ahead and started the projects.

It took just a few minutes!... for me to realize I had greatly underestimated the difficulty of the tasks.

Those apps, it turns out, don't use regular inputs for the users to type messages; they use a weird combination of divs and spans, probably to avoid security issues. I took it as a challenge to at least, make sure that it wasn't possible. But the more I pushed, the more fun I had!

Screenshot

https://i.imgur.com/tMf531B.png

These were some of the projects I enjoyed the most, and I was left wondering if being a hacker feels as fun as that.

I made the code open-source, with MIT licenses:

https://github.com/ivocass/quick-emojis

https://github.com/ivocass/whatsapp-quick-reply-button

Demo videos:

https://youtu.be/Ixha7icPXkc

https://youtu.be/seTnOZlyEBs

2 comments

caiobegotti6 lat temu

I know you did your best to convey the work and the idea behind this but this warrants its own "Show HN:" prefix properly done if I can say so. Try posting somewhere the images, embedded videos and the links etc as you did above, then submit it with the "Show HN:" prefix again. I'm sure it will get more attention!

IvoCass6 lat temu

I understand, thanks! Updating the title now.