Popular messaging service WhatsApp is imposing 24-hour ban on people trying to access its service via an unauthorised app.
The company said that it had acted against users of WhatsApp Plus because of concerns that the program might cause private data to be leaked to third-parties.
The unofficial app offers extra ways to customise how conversations appear.
WhatsApp recently reported it had 700 million active users sending an average of 30 billion messages a day. It currently charges a $0.99 (65p) annual fee to users who sign up to the service after their first 12 months of using it.
According to one app store, WhatsApp Plus had itself been downloaded more than 35 million times since its 2012 releases by a Spanish developer, who called himself Rafalense.
Security consultant Graham Cluley said that figure sounded “surprisingly high”, but acknowledged there was no independent way to verify it.
WhatsApp Plus’ own website appears to be offline at this time but the moderator of a development community, which had supported it, used Google Plus to indicate that work on the software would now be put on hold.
“We have received a cease and desist letter from WhatsApp and we are obligated to remove all download links and unfortunately delete this community,” he wrote.
“[I] am really sorry for this but it’s out of our hands and WhatsApp has pushed us into a corner that we can’t escape this time. It was a fun ride but it has come to an end.
“Deepest regards from Rafalense and me and all the WhatsApp Plus team for your support.”
“Update : for now reinstalling the normal whatsapp won’t get you unbanned till you finish the 24 hour ban..
Update 2 : if you didn’t get banned and are using whatsapp+ please uninstall it now and go back to normal whatsapp before you get banned till we find a fix”
