As part of changing laws in Europe, Meta now offers the option for you to chat with others using third-party messaging apps that have integrated with WhatsApp and that you choose to turn on.
Note: Chats with third-party apps are only available in select regions and may not be available to you.
I feel sorry for all in the wrong region.
Is there also a way to chat with people using WhatsApp without me installing an Meta app on my phone?
Xmpp and Matrix have bridges that only require to install WhatsApp on some old phone and turn it on once every few weeks to renew the connection.
This works independent of what is mentioned in the OP’s link.
Heh, I used to run Whatapp in an Android VM for use in a Matrix bridge. I got my phone number banned in about a week or so. So I guess it’s really important to use an actual phone.
That was years ago and I used that to get my family to install Element, so it still ended well.
I think it’s called Birdychat or something