WhatsApp Web App in Firewall: Overcoming Connectivity Challenges

In an effort to provide seamless communication for our students, our team has been working on configuring WhatsApp Web App to function seamlessly through our firewall, Smoothwall. While we've made significant progress, we still encountered some hurdles along the way.

Initially, it took around 20 seconds for messages to be sent and received. However, after exploring different solutions, we were able to whittle down this time to a maximum of 5 seconds. Our colleague suggested that perhaps certain ports might be blocked, which led us to investigate potential fixes. Unfortunately, we were unable to find any obvious solutions.

To add context, our school uses Ruckus Zone Director for WiFi management. This may or may not impact the connectivity issues we experienced. If anyone has encountered similar issues, it would be helpful to know if there are specific ports or URLs that need to be unblocked or if port forwarding is necessary.

A peculiar issue we faced was that when sending a message from one device to another through WiFi using WhatsApp, the message would remain pending with a clock icon and never successfully transmit until a cellular connection was available. This presented a challenge for our students who rely heavily on WiFi connectivity during their break times.

To resolve this issue, we reluctantly enabled WhatsApp access in our schools by opening several ports and allowing certain URLs to accommodate the needs of the App. While it's not an ideal solution, it has allowed us to provide our students with a reliable communication channel during their free time.

In conclusion, while configuring WhatsApp Web App through our firewall required some trial and error, we were ultimately able to find a middle-ground solution that meets our school's requirements. If you're experiencing similar connectivity issues or have any insights on how to improve the situation, please share your thoughts with us.

Whatsapp web app in firewall