What is a WhatsApp Proxy server and how to use it

With almost half the world’s population on WhatsApp, there is absolutely no doubt that it is one of the largest communications platforms in the world today. It’s a popular and powerful tool not just for communication, but for secure and encrypted communications, payments, managing businesses, and more. People use WhatsApp to talk to friends and family, engage with clients, run their businesses, and do a lot more besides.

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Given how useful, powerful, and pervasive WhatsApp is, certain bad actors might want to snoop on your communications and even control it by preventing access to WhatsApp. To circumvent this issue, WhatsApp has issued guidelines on setting up and using proxy servers that will let you connect to WhatsApp even when access to the service is blocked or restricted. But first…

What is a proxy server?

Normally, when you want to use a service like WhatsApp, your messages are routed through a server – a large computer that acts as a sort of telephone exchange for your messages. If access to that server is blocked, your messages will not get through.

One way to circumvent such a block is by using a proxy server. A proxy server onWhatsapp is essentially a third-party server that sits between your device and the WhatsApp server that you want to access. Here, it acts like a mediator between you and WhatsApp’s servers. 

Since it’s not easy to detect and block the connection to and from the proxy server, it’s difficult to block access to WhatsApp using this method. Additionally, these servers are usually located in other countries, making it impossible for a local government to shut them down.

You can set up your own proxy server

The more technical minded among you can set up and manage your own proxy server. WhatsApp has made the code available to all via GitHub and has even left detailed instructions to help you set up such a server.

Follow the instructions on the page to set up your own server and share the server address privately with those who need access to it. The process is a little complicated, but the documentation is quite thorough.

If someone is blocking access to WhatsApp, you don’t want them finding out the address of your server and then blocking or tracking it. Certain websites even maintain a list of servers that anyone can use. Anyone can connect to a WhatsApp proxy server via an Android or iOS smartphone, or even via WhatsApp Web.

Facebook maintains a help page with detailed instructions on how to connect to WhatsApp via a Proxy server. This is very easy to set up, provided you have access to the IP address of the proxy server that you want to use. Simply follow the instructions on the support page, enter the relevant IP address, and now you’re communicating via WhatsApp and sharing information and data via a secure medium.

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If you’re not able to connect via the proxy server you’ve selected, that server may have been compromised and you’ll need to switch to a different server.

Proxy servers on WhatsApp are an important tool for circumventing restrictions such as internet shutdowns and similar measures taken to stifle communications. Proxy servers are not a 100 per cent safe or guaranteed to work.

But using them is usually better than the alternative, which is not being able to get any messages out. Exercise caution when dealing with proxy servers, but also don’t hesitate to take advantage of them when the situation calls for it.