WhatsApp on Desktop: What You Can and Can’t Do With it?
Checking WhatsApp messages at work, without peeking into your phones every now and then away from the prying eyes of the bosses, is easily possible thanks to the launch of WhatsApp Web: the desktop version of the popular mobile-messaging app.
“Today, for the first time, millions of you will have the ability to use WhatsApp on your web browser,” read the announcement on company’s blog much to the elation of millions who are most of the time working on the desktop for work and other purposes.
Before you jump to install the desktop app, you should know the strengths and limitations of the app. The web client currently supports Google Chrome browser only and works with Android, Windows Phone or Blackberry device (not iPhone).
To Install WhatsApp on Desktop, all you need to do is open https://web.whatsapp.com in your Google Chrome browser and scan the QR code that you see there inside of WhatsApp on your mobile phone. The new service will be launched on your desktop and you can freely chat with your friends and colleagues on your desktop.
Points to be kept in mind
The first thought that might have come to many minds after hearing the announcement was- Can I now use WhatsApp only on desktop, independent of mobile phone. Sorry, that isn’t the case.
Your phone has to stay connected to Internet. The two devices- mobile and desktop- are paired. So, if by any chance you lose the internet connection on your mobile phone or switch it off, the desktop version will shut down as well.
Secondly, you have to ensure you are using the latest version of WhatsApp on your phone in order to use the web client.
What You Can Do With WhatsApp Desktop Version
Send and Receive Messages on Desktop: Since the web client is an extension of your phone, you can easily chat with your friends on desktop. All the messages between your smartphone and desktop are synced. Which means all messages sent and received on desktop are automatically available in your mobile phone too.
Chat with your colleagues: If your colleagues are on your WhatsApp too, you can quickly exchange messages or any other work related information with them via WhatsApp web client. That way, WhatsApp can promote productivity at workplace too!
Participate in Running Group Chats: You can chat in the groups that were started on your mobile.
What You Can’t Do With WhatsApp Desktop Version
- Can’t use it on your iPhone: The service doesn’t work with iPhone at present. WhatsApp gave the following reason for the same on its blog, “Unfortunately for now, we will not be able to provide web client to our iOS users due to Apple platform limitations.” We guess iPhone users have to wait a little for the service since they plan to support this in coming time. For the time being, users have to keep checking their mobile phones to check every message you get on WhatsApp. Just make sure you don’t do that too often at work; it doesn’t cast a good impression.
- Can’t use it on Safari, Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.: As we told you in beginning itself, the service works on Google Chrome only at present. Surprisingly, Google’s own product- Google Hangouts will now suffer with WhatsApp latest release since Hangouts were most commonly being used to exchange messages at workplace.
- Can’t use independently of your mobile phone: Like we said before, your mobile phone needs to stay connected to internet in order to use the service on your desktop.
- Can’t create new groups, leave old ones or block users: WhatsApp users can’t create a new group using the desktop version. Neither can you leave old ones. To block users spamming you, you have to use your mobile phone too.
This was a long awaited feature since other messaging platforms like Facebook, Google Hangouts and Wickr already synced messages between smartphone and computer. Other popular mobile messaging apps, including Line, WeChat, iMessage, Viber, etc. also already had desktop versions. Over 700 million users use WhatsApp and the desktop version will expand the use of this platform. It only gets better for WhatsApp with each passing day. Give WhatsApp Web a try and tell us how you like it.
