Popular smartphone messaging service WhatsApp has now for the
first time been made available on web browsers in the form of its desktop
client named WhatsApp Web. From now on users can access their WhatsApp
conversations directly from their PCs.
The announcement was made by Jan Koum, the firm’s CEO, on his
Facebook page on Wednesday. He said that it is an extension to the app, which
syncs the phone's conversations to the desktop browser.
"Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device - this means all of your messages still live on your phone," he wrote.
Smartphone users who wish to connect to the client using their web browser must go to https://web.whatsapp.com. A QR code will appear, which must be scanned inside of WhatsApp to activate the service. Setting up the web version is really easy and the layout remains quite similar to the one you usually work with on your smartphone.
One slight inconvenience however, is that the user’s phone must remain connected to the internet for the desktop service to work.
The web client is currently available only for Android, Windows, Blackberry and Nokia S60 devices and not for iOS devices due to iOS platform limitations. Which means iPhone and iPad users will have to wait till this issue is figured out. Also, this feature is only compatible with the Google chrome browser and if you have any other browser you will be asked to download the compatible browser.
Brian Acton and Jan Koum developed WhatsApp in 2009 which was lately acquired by Facebook (for a whopping $19 billion). Though it was created for smartphones only, Whatsapp could also be used on computers via android emulators like Bluestacks. But now one can easily use Whatsapp on his/her favorite laptop or desktop without having to install any third party software.
This feature is a bit pointless if you have to keep your phone connected to the internet all the time and for iOS users it is absolutely useless but it can prove to be very helpful for people whose majority of work revolves around their PC and for whom constantly having to check their phones in between work is a complete nuisance. And also for those who hate shuffling between their PC and their phone just to be able to use WhatsApp.
Before downloading WhatsApp Web make sure you are using the
latest version of WhatsApp Messenger i.e. version 2.11.498. In case you are not
you will first have to update the WhatsApp messenger on your smartphone.
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