u/Usual_Piano9826

"Closed iOS has its own problems because of closedness - they secure the phone from non-Apple threats but take control from you so that whatever APPLE ITSELF (or approved apps for iPhone) does, it's something you are stuck with"
Then buy Android phone... (initially it was the solution)... Then all the "features" came - ADB becoming no longer a tool but something existing only as formality "it does exist, yes" but no longer promising any backup (only at will of app vendor). Try to downgrade app version to get rid of the flags of newer version? OS refuses it...
Maybe make your own version with far higher "number of version" that has no WhatsApp functionality at all? Just absence of app the flags that guard app data? Again... signature mismatch...
(Never argue with fans of such system unless you are willing to become highly annoyed by the same responses - "It's not a bug but a feature")

Downloading backup from Google Drive? Sorry, regardless of you paying for Google Drive, still it's what only app is allowed to access, not you.

WhatsApp itself? The desktop version having become useless as opposed to what it used to be...

Governments contribute to such situations either. India with 6-hours logout period without constant confirmation of same SIM being active. Who can rule out that other governments are going to do the same?

Now as of 19 May 2026 is it still possible to root phone and get no consequences from WhatsApp?
No "unofficial app" critical error? No refusal of all support tickets outright?

Which vendors were decision-makers about "nowadays, the guarantee of app data always extractable app data by ADB Backup is no longer what we want. We introduce the roadblocks that stop the backup of app data - a flag that app vendor can add to make it non-backup-able and we absolutely don't stop until there are literally zero vendors that provide ROM with always-enabled ADB Backup regardless of app manifests"?

E2E encryption is nowadays considered the norm (no one can imagine any other computer life anymore) yet it stops the apps from having any economical sense - having to provide the infrastructure for transmission of messages but no way to benefit economically from the contents of messages, so unexpected shutdown would not really surprize me...

Yet people still praise it

One more typical situation...
Old phone, old number... at some point you abandon both old phone and old number and buy both new phone and new number. Old number may become inactive after some time, old account will be deactivated by WhatsApp...

Then BY SURPRISE for you (NOT some nerd who does at least basic research on topic based on easily findable things in Google) - it was LOCAL storage, you naively assumed that you cannot by logged out of anything stored on LOCAL storage by any cloud service - PER DEFINITION, you also naively assumed that at least on "open" OS Android, ADB will always extract everything no matter what - and it will always remain so as long as Android is based on Linux.... Only to find out that when the extraction of data requires root it's already beyond recovery by any means included by vendor and officially supposed to be used - because it starts from unlocking bootloader that erases everything...

And it's all NOT something that you were warned about BEFORE you even joined usage of smartphone ecosystems... when you found out, let's hope you can break into your own system or you have good connections with those who can... (but do not discuss about it at least on this subreddit as it attracts scammers and get removed by mods to prevent scams here)

Nowadays, AFAIK something like a decade the ONLY smartphones that the mainstream market does sell are those WITH hardware-baked keystore... Whoever has ever dealt with "Help! Backup of WhatsApp chats is not possible in unencrypted form! How do I tamper with phone so that WhatsApp does not recognize unlocked bootloader / root / both?" must also search for any way to get rid of hardware-baked keystore too... (Else what stops WhatsApp from using it too?)

The trend:

1. ATTENTION!!! Phone nowadays carries such a data that can be stolen and you left without money (bank account), identity theft may happen (government ID).... Do you want it? No? Then we need hi-max security phone. Some API must exist that apps can opt-out of backups..
2. Such an API gets invented. The world gets new concept "sensible data"
3. Once anti-backup API gets invented, nothing stops repurposing it for chat apps too.

The only action against such trend, albeit way too ineffective alone - just not using smartphones for risky things - such as banking, government ID etc. to not fuel the trend "for your own protection there has be be some hardware-baked keystore, secure enclave etc.

Also, saving page NOT in some obscure hidden older which at best is extractable with ADB Backup (unless the version of Android has it deprecated completely), at worst denied for ADB Backup and requires root, custom ROM, custom Recovery or anything else beyond normal usage but ONLY into "public" folder (or at least "Scoped Storage" but available by typical USB MTP connection)

Marketing tells us that big display, only fancy exterior, no borders - entire front panel ONLY display etc is the luxury.

In contrast, for technologically savy consumer, the real luxury is having LESS of the locked-down OS... Also no such thing that has become de-facto global standard "unlocking bootloader leads to mandatory factory reset". There are enough cases in which a consumer learns too late about factory reset as consequences of unlock bootloader - AFTER there are apps with data...

Same with Hardware-baked keystore. Having well-done EMULATOR of such hardware is real luxury - apps are satisfied if they ask for it - but for full backup - the emulator (OUTSIDE of runtime of apps) gives all keys - no way for this version or future versions to block backup...

(Of course no "feature" AllowBackup=False - debugging tool being privileged - would be a real luxury)

Very unlikely to appear in any mainstream device, clear...

(there is hardware for PC to connect SIM card, it just has to be accessible for an emulator)
So far, such a regulation only exists in India, who knows where it's going to be introduced next...
As everyone here should know, smartphones turning to more and more digital fortress, makes emulators (that can be always inspected from outside the guest OS by definition and no app CAN have any way to keep secrets from tools on host OS) even more important than before...

Of course, taking into account also dealing with Play Integrity, Emulation as such etc...