[mschuster91]

> There's just no way, in real life, for Facebook to add what you're describing to one of the most prominent messaging apps in the world without somebody noticing.

That assumes somebody is digging through each update and the thousands of classes. FFS the OG Facebook app was already blowing past the limits of Android in 2013 [1], and the current Whatsapp app isn't much better - just look at the current APK file:

    2023-04-12 11:38:58 .....      2578508      1171345  classes.dex
    2023-04-12 11:39:04 .....     13312588      6020223  classes2.dex
    2023-04-12 11:39:08 .....      7671448      3310145  classes3.dex
    2023-04-12 11:39:08 .....      2118352       945166  classes4.dex

25MB of already compressed Dalvik code, probably double that if you restore it to Java class files and triple to quadruple that in Java source files. It's impossible to audit that there is no routine pushing keys to, say, the usual analytics backend they use - and to make it worse, according to APKMirror, they push updates every few days [2].

Although my biggest question is... it's a fucking messenger app. Why does it produce a larger binary content than a full-blown Linux kernel?!

[1] https://engineering.fb.com/2013/03/04/android/under-the-hood...

[2] https://www.apkmirror.com/uploads/?appcategory=whatsapp

[qtzfz]

>Although my biggest question is... it's a fucking messenger app. Why does it produce a larger binary content than a full-blown Linux kernel?!

Because it does so much more than messaging. Also, UI code is generally very verbose.

[trifurcate]

Also, conversely, the kernel doesn't do that much. Most of the Linux kernel source consists of device drivers, which compile to modules rather than get bundled into vmlinuz. Many of these modules are also rarely built if ever. The kernel itself really is a pretty small fraction of the complete software bundle that makes a Linux system functional.

[mschuster91]

I know. But still, that amount of compiled code is insane.