What Is whatsapp.com, and Is It Safe?

Last Updated on October 31, 2024 by Mathew Diekhake

WhatsApp (whatsapp.com) is an available freeware, multi-platform messaging service that allows users to send text messages, make voice and video calls, and share statuses and media content such as voice memos, images, documents, and more. Whatsapp.com is compatible with many mobile phones and computer operating systems making it accessible across different devices. Its user-friendly interface is key to this site’s success as it facilitates a good user experience for people of all ages.

DESCRIPTION

The whatsapp.com homepage didn’t have much content above the fold. I recommend adding more features related to demonstrations or teaching how the service works in the space above the fold. The Download button was also smaller than I would recommend, though I did like that it was green in color which helped it stand out. There were actually two green download buttons on the page above the fold: one in the top right corner and one in the middle of the content on the page. I recommend reducing it to one button and having it larger than the small to medium size that it was during my visit. The potential problem with having two buttons is a percentage of your users will get confused and wonder if it is for downloading two separate things. I as a website reviewer know that it is downloading the exact same thing, but I also know that many people won’t understand that.

HISTORY

As of March 2024, whatsapp.com has 3.053 billion monthly views (2.9B, Jan 2023), according to Similar Web. The Wayback Machine estimates that whatsapp.com was founded on January 24, 2009. The Internet Archive has saved whatsapp.com 110,806 times between January 24, 2009 and April 30, 2024.

Whatsapp.com started being crawled by the Wayback Machine in 2009. To date, whatsapp.com has been crawled 98,402 times showing its rate has been increasing steadily with an upsurge between 2015 and 2016 and traffic has not dropped off. As illustrated on SimilarWeb, the site whatsapp.com gets 85% of its traffic directly from the domain and 9% from search engines.

Is whatsapp.com Safe?

I analyzed whatsapp.com for malware and malicious content to check if it was legit or a scam. Here are the results:

I checked whatsapp.com on Sucuri, and it returned as a medium security risk.

Sucuri found several issues with this domain. I will list them below.

Site issue 1 (anomaly behavior).

http://whatsapp.com/

<script>requireLazy([“InitialJSLoader”], function(InitialJSLoader) {InitialJSLoader.loadOnDOMContentReady([“ne+Ol4t”,”VbwjDnG”,”fWpW5wc”,”P5QVif6″,”xapIJIl”,”8TNZYzX”,”oCLtibS”]);});</script>

Redirects to https://www.whatsapp.com/?_fb_noscript=1

Site issue 2 (anomaly behavior).

https://www.whatsapp.com/community

<script>requireLazy([“InitialJSLoader”], function(InitialJSLoader) {InitialJSLoader.loadOnDOMContentReady([“VbwjDnG”,”fWpW5wc”,”P5QVif6″,”8TNZYzX”,”\/fBFaxH”,”oCLtibS”]);});</script>

Redirects to https://www.whatsapp.com/community?_fb_noscript=1

Site issue 3 (unable to scan).

https://www.whatsapp.com/download

HTTP redirect <301 Moved Permanently>
Redirects to itms-appss://apps.apple.com/us/app/whatsapp-messenger/id310633997

Site issue 4 (anomaly behavior).

https://www.whatsapp.com/expressyourself

<script>requireLazy([“InitialJSLoader”], function(InitialJSLoader) {InitialJSLoader.loadOnDOMContentReady([“VbwjDnG”,”fWpW5wc”,”P5QVif6″,”8TNZYzX”,”\/fBFaxH”,”oCLtibS”]);});</script>

Redirects to https://www.whatsapp.com/expressyourself?_fb_noscript=1

Site issue 5.

https://www.whatsapp.com/stayconnected

<script>requireLazy([“InitialJSLoader”], function(InitialJSLoader) {InitialJSLoader.loadOnDOMContentReady([“VbwjDnG”,”fWpW5wc”,”P5QVif6″,”xapIJIl”,”8TNZYzX”,”oCLtibS”]);});</script>

Redirects to https://www.whatsapp.com/stayconnected?_fb_noscript=1

Site issue 6.

https://www.whatsapp.com/stories

<script>requireLazy([“InitialJSLoader”], function(InitialJSLoader) {InitialJSLoader.loadOnDOMContentReady([“VbwjDnG”,”fWpW5wc”,”P5QVif6″,”xYnbfih”,”R5w1rCJ”,”X9COSxX”,”xapIJIl”,”8TNZYzX”,”oCLtibS”]);});</script>

Redirects to https://www.whatsapp.com/stories?_fb_noscript=1

Sucuri says the site whatsapp.com is a medium security risk because a site issue was detected finding possible malware.

Security hardening flaws:

• The ‘unsafe-inline’ keyword in Content-Security-Policy is not recommended. Consider using unsafe-hashes or nonces instead. Affected pages:
  https://www.whatsapp.com/?_fb_noscript=1 for iPad’s UA
  https://www.whatsapp.com/community?_fb_noscript=1
  https://www.whatsapp.com/expressyourself?_fb_noscript=1
  https://www.whatsapp.com/stayconnected?_fb_noscript=1
  https://www.whatsapp.com/stories?_fb_noscript=1

I then ran a parasite scan with Unmask Parasites on whatsapp.com, and it is suspicious.

Unmask Parasites cites 9 hidden external links found:

• https://www.facebook.com/brand/resources/whatsapp/whatsapp-brand
• https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064758844406
• https://www.instagram.com/whatsapp/?hl=en
• https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAuerig2N-RZWJT8x75V9yw
• https://twitter.com/whatsapp
• https://static.whatsapp.net/rsrc.php/v3/yY/r/1ItSdHKUFAF.js?_nc_x=Ij3Wp8lg5Kz
• https://business.whatsapp.com/
• https://faq.whatsapp.com/
• https://blog.whatsapp.com/
• https://web.whatsapp.com/

I also checked whatsapp.com on VirusTotal, and it is clean.

In conclusion, whatsapp.com is a medium security risk according to Sucuri. Sucuri found indication of possible malware but no associated security vendor has blacklisted whatsapp.com. Furthermore, no security vendor associated with VirusTotal has flagged whatsapp.com as malicious. OVERALL GRADE: Relatively Safe.

Links and Profiles

Website: whatsapp.com