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The future of messaging

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WhatsApp is a program used for communicating with contacts. It supports voice notes, images, videos, documents, and more. It’s a great way to avoid pesky prices for text messaging.

Free communication

WhatsApp kicks text messaging to the curve and embraces communication through the Internet.

WhatsApp provides a simple platform for talking to friends when there’s a distance between you and them. When you don’t have your cell phone handy, the version for Windows is a great replacement. It does require your phone to be connected to the Internet but, other than that, it works like a charm.

The app is packed with a ton of features. Some alternatives, like LINE, have plenty in common. Sending images, voice notes, and documents are just a few. However, WhatsApp bolsters the list by adding things like location sharing, encrypted messages, video calls, and business profiles.

Getting started with the program is easy. All you have to do is open the app on your phone, and point it at a QR code provided by the Windows version. That's it. You´re ready to start using one of the best communication apps.

Something slightly frustrating, is that other competitors get one thing right. Telegram, for example, doesn’t force you to keep your phone connected. So, when your phone runs out of battery or gets lost, you´re really out of luck with WhatsApp. This program still finds a way to top the charts as one of the most downloaded apps in the world.

Where can you run this program?


It can run on Windows 7 and later. It is also available for Android, iPhone, and Mac.

Is there a better alternative?

No. WhatsApp has everything you need. Telegram, though, provides better security options.

Our take

WhatsApp is simply fantastic. It offers everything you need to keep in touch with your friends and loved ones.

Should you download it?

Yes. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and works very well. You want to download it if you need a free way to communicate with anyone in the world.

Highs

  • Sends messages quickly
  • Automatic contact transfer
  • Very customizable
  • Free

Lows

  • Some issues with images
  • Limited video sizes
  • Service drops

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How to Set up and Use WhatsApp Web or the Desktop App

  • You can use WhatsApp Web from your computer's browser by linking your account through a QR code from the WhatsApp mobile app.
  • You can also use WhatsApp from your computer by installing the WhatsApp desktop application.
  • You can open multiple WhatsApp accounts on your computer as long as you use a different browser window for each one. 

Most people are familiar with using WhatsApp via a mobile app on their phone, but not everyone is aware that it's also possible to use WhatsApp on the computer desktop — either in a web browser or using a desktop app. The main difference? You still need to log into WhatsApp on the computer using your WhatsApp mobile app. 

How to access WhatsApp Web or the desktop app

There are two ways to access your WhatsApp account on your PC or Mac computer:

  • Use the web app. Go to web.whatsapp.com in a web browser.
  • Use the desktop app. Install the WhatsApp desktop app on your Mac or Windows computer from the WhatsApp download page.
Click the link to install WhatsApp on your desktop and follow the installation instructions. Dave Johnson

How to set up and use WhatsApp Web or the desktop app

1. Once you've opened the webpage or installed and run the desktop app, you should see a QR code on your computer.

You'll need to scan the QR code in your WhatsApp mobile app to log in. Dave Johnson

2. Start WhatsApp on your phone. 

3. Tap Settings. On iPhone, you'll find Settings at the bottom right of the screen, but on Android tap the three-dot menu at the top right and then choose Settings in the drop-down menu. 

4. To the right of your account name, tap the QR code icon

Use the QR code icon to log in to your desktop's WhatsApp. Dave Johnson

5. On the QR code screen, get ready to scan. On iPhone, tap Scan at the bottom of the page; on Android, tap the Scan Code tab at the top.  

Point your phone at the QR code on the computer. Dave Johnson

6. Point your phone's camera at the QR code in WhatsApp on your computer.

7. If this is your first time using WhatsApp on the computer, you will see the Device Login Detected pop-up. Tap Continue and then tap Link a Device

For a rundown on all the different ways to use WhatsApp, see our guide to the popular messaging app.

How WhatsApp Web differs from the mobile app

Once you've linked your computer and mobile app, you should see your WhatsApp Chats page in the web app or desktop app. Everything you do on either the computer or mobile app will be kept in sync and mirrored on the other device. New messages will appear in bold and you'll hear a notification on your computer. Click any conversation to reply from your computer. 

WhatsApp web replicates the chat conversations from your mobile app. Dave Johnson

WhatsApp offers other features on the computer as well:

  • Click your own account icon to change your profile details like display name and About message.
  • Click any contact icon to control your interactions with that user. You can start an audio or video call, for example, mute notifications, block or report the user, and delete the chat.
  • At the top of the window you can also start a new chat (including start a new group chat) and see starred messages.

There are some significant advantages to using WhatsApp Web or the desktop app. It's often easier to type using a real mouse and keyboard, for example, and you can keep WhatsApp on the screen, side by side with other windows to copy and paste information into chat messages. And you can easily log into more than one WhatsApp account at the same time just by opening them in different WhatsApp Web browser windows.

On the other hand, be aware that you always need your phone to log into WhatsApp on the computer — there's no way to use WhatsApp Web without your mobile app.

Dave Johnson

Freelance Writer

Dave Johnson is a technology journalist who writes about consumer tech and how the industry is transforming the speculative world of science fiction into modern-day real life. Dave grew up in New Jersey before entering the Air Force to operate satellites, teach space operations, and do space launch planning. He then spent eight years as a content lead on the Windows team at Microsoft. As a photographer, Dave has photographed wolves in their natural environment; he's also a scuba instructor and co-host of several podcasts. Dave is the author of more than two dozen books and has contributed to many sites and publications including CNET, Forbes, PC World, How To Geek, and Insider.

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WhatsApp launched on a PC without a smartphone and received a radically redesigned Windows application

Technique

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    WhatsApp native beta testing for Windows has ended. It is now free to download from the Microsoft Store. The modernized desktop version of the messenger, according to the developers, works faster, looks neater, and interaction with it does not require synchronization with the messenger on the user's smartphone.

    Modernized WhatsApp


    The developers of WhatsApp have released a new stable version of the software client for the personal computer. Now this native Windows application, among other things, is able to work offline, without maintaining a connection with a smartphone, follows from the reference materials on the messenger website.

    Prior to this, WhatsApp users had the option to connect to the messaging service through a browser or install a separate "old" application, also based on web technologies, namely the Electron framework. At the same time, the smartphone with the WhatsApp mobile application, in which the user account was logged in, had to remain connected to the Web. The latter is now optional. However, it should be borne in mind that for the initial setup of the desktop application, a smartphone with WhatsApp installed is still needed.

    Previously, only a few beta testers had the opportunity to evaluate the benefits of the redesigned application. The updated desktop version has been in experimental status since at least June 2021.

    WhatsApp is getting better not only on smartphones

    An up-to-date Windows version of the app is available for download from the Microsoft Store. However, judging by the discussion that unfolded on Twitter, not yet in all countries of the world.

    The "native" version for operating systems of the Mac family is under development, those who wish can take part in its testing. When exactly applications for Apple computers will become stable, it is not reported.

    Features of release

    The new version of the WhatsApp application, according to the developers, is characterized by increased stability and speed; fits better into the working environment, as its interface is optimized specifically for Windows.

    By "native" (native to the operating system), the creators of the messenger mean an application that implements the Universal Windows Platform (UWP). Support for UWP first appeared in Windows 10 and is present in the current version of the Microsoft OS - Windows 11. The use of UWP by a software developer provides some degree of cross-platform. You can run such a “universal application” without making changes to its code, including in Windows 10 Mobile (for mobile devices), Windows 10 IoT (for Internet of Things devices).

    Previous versions of the WhatsApp Windows application used the Electron framework, which is developed by the team behind Microsoft's popular IT project host GitHub.

    What's wrong with Electron

    Electron allows you to create desktop applications using web technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc.). To draw controls in the window of such an application (rendering), the Chromium browser engine (free version of Google Chrome) is used. As a backend - the Node.js platform, which is not famous for its high speed. Accordingly, applications developed using Electron are often characterized by “slowness”.

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    Nevertheless, Electron is at the heart of quite successful commercial products: business messenger Slack, acquired by Salesforce in late 2020 for nearly $28 billion; Discord messaging service popular among fans of online games and another corporate communications tool - Microsoft Teams. The latter developers intended to eventually migrate from Electron to Edge WebView2.

    Notably, Electron has its roots in the popular free text editor with Atom syntax highlighting. It was from it that Electron (formerly Atom Shell) grew into an independent software product. In December 2022, the development of the editor will be completely discontinued. GitHub users are advised to move to Microsoft Visual Studio Code, which shares a codebase with Atom.

    Slowly but surely

    Developers are developing WhatsApp at a very moderate pace, so the messenger acquires many useful functions belatedly compared to competing services.

    For example, the ability to make audio and video calls in the desktop version of WhatsApp appeared only in March 2021.

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    Import substitution VKS

    The mobile version of the messenger is getting improvements a little faster, but the extremely useful feature of transferring WhatsApp user data from Android smartphones to iPhone and back was added by the developers less than a month ago - in July 2022.

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    Dmitry Stepanov


    How to install WhatsApp on a computer - PC version and using WhatsApp Web online (via a web browser)

    Updated April 4, 2022 Views: 199 855 Author: Dmitry Petrov

    Hello, dear readers of the KtoNaNovenkogo. ru blog. At one time, I wrote a comparative article about Viber and Vatsap, where I briefly described the functionality of these applications for mobile phones and held a vote on which program turned out better. However, it is not always convenient to use these applications from a mobile phone and I would like to be able to use, for example, WhatsApp on computer (it’s much faster to type, and indeed, since you’re sitting at a PC, there’s no need to hold a cell phone in your hands - I already wrote about this in an article about the Viber program for a computer).

    In general, the online version of the program called WhatsApp Web is available on the official website since the summer of 2016. This greatly simplifies the use of this program (what is it?) on a computer. Thus, today there are two main options for using WhatsApp on a PC - it's online, that is, through a browser (web version) or by installing a special WhatsAppSetup application from the official website to your computer. Let's quickly review them...


    Things to consider before installing WhatsApp Web on a computer

    To avoid problems during installation, consider a few basic important nuances:

    1. To use on a computer, you must have the WhatsApp application installed on your smartphone. It is not yet possible to use WhatsApp only on PC.
    2. When you install the application on your PC, the software on your phone must be up to date (requires the latest version).
    3. Before installing on a PC, open the WhatsApp Web application on your smartphone.
    4. WhatsApp application can be installed only on the following operating systems: Windows 8, Windows 10, MAC. Operating systems Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 are not supported.
    5. Download the application on your PC only from the official website, which is located at this address https://www.whatsapp.com/download/ :

    6. plan to work with this application on a computer. It is better that the phone is connected to the Internet via WiFi all this time in order to minimize traffic costs.

    Installing Whatsapp on a computer

    As I mentioned, it is especially important that WhatsApp be installed on your mobile phone . To do this, simply go to the application manager on your mobile phone and drive in the search bar "Whatsapp".

    Install the found application (note that it has already been installed by at least a billion users before you) and follow the steps of the wizard (the application is linked to your mobile phone number, which will need to be confirmed). Everything is simple.

    If all the above conditions are met, then we proceed directly to installing Vatsap on your computer or laptop. To do this, go to the above-mentioned official website https://www.whatsapp.com (I draw your attention to the phishing problem that has aggravated recently and advise you to follow the tips for safe network use given by the link) and go to the file download section on the tab of the same name " Download ".

    There we select the operating system - Windows or Mac. Then everything is as always - select the download location on your PC, at the end of the download process, open the WhatsAppSetup.exe file and follow the steps of the installation wizard.

    Personally, my installation of Vots App on a PC hung at the very beginning (on Windows 10). However, everything worked when I right-clicked on the WhatsAppSetup.exe file and selected the "Run as administrator" option:

    Maybe someone else might find it useful too.

    After the installation process reaches the stage shown in the screenshot below, you will need to open WhatsApp on your smartphone and follow the instructions on this page (depending on the type of your mobile device - Android, iPhone or something else):

    The most important thing here is the QR code located in the upper left corner (what is it?), because it is he who will allow you to synchronize data between the version of Vatsap on a computer and on a mobile phone. Accordingly, now you will need to take a smartphone and open the WhatsApp application, then open the menu in the upper right corner (click on the three dots) and select item "WhatsApp Web" :

    a picture of a QR code on your computer to transfer data (synchronize two programs).

    You will say (click) that “OK, I see” and you will still be able to recognize the QR code, after which you will immediately see your WhatsApp contact list on your computer in a separate window of the newly installed program:

    Use it is extremely simple - just a few menu items and convenient tools in the communication windows.

    Recall that WhatsApp must be installed on your smartphone and running all the time while you are working with this program on your PC! If the phone is turned off, there will be no Internet on it or the application will be inactive, vatsap on the computer will also not work .

    WhatsApp Web - go to WhatsApp through a browser (online)

    Application developers on their official website (mindful of the aspirations of their users) offer not only a version of the program for a computer, but also the ability to access WhatsApp online , t . e. through a web browser.

    In this case, you don’t even need to install anything - just on the official website https://www.whatsapp.com go to the "WhatsApp Web" tab or you can immediately follow the link: https://web.whatsapp.com/ (it makes sense to add it to your browser bookmarks immediately so that you don't have to search later).

    Further, the algorithm of actions is the same as after installing the application on your computer (see just above) - go to WhatsApp from your smartphone, go there (on your phone) to the “WhatsApp Web” tab from the top drop-down menu and recognize it with your phone QR code shown on web.whatsapp.com.

    After that, you will immediately get access to the web version of WhatsApp directly from your browser window on your computer (that is, online).

    True, the smartphone will still have to be kept turned on with the Vatsap application running and available Internet access. Otherwise, there will be no kin.


    Learn more