WhatsApp back again, this time with a web client

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

WhatsApp back again, this time with a web client

Yesterday WhatsApp hit the news after it was discovered they were banning the use of third-party apps with their platform, going so far as to temporarily ban users who were using other channels to access WhatsApp. While the WhatsApp team may have annoyed some users with that move, today’s news is much better. WhatsApp has finally launched a web client for their messaging platform that works with the desktop Chrome browser.

Being a company focused on mobile platforms, they make sure potential desktop WhatsApp users have a smartphone by requiring the scanning of a QR code in order to unlock and install the Chrome extension. If you have the latest version of WhatsApp running on your smartphone, you should have a “Web” menu option that is used to scan the QR code and launch the install process. There do seem to be a few versions of WhatsApp floating around out there that lack this option as some users with HTC One M8 devices have discovered. While that may be a problem for some Android users, WhatsApp really messed with iOS users – this new feature is not available to them at all due to “platform limitations.” Apparently WhatsApp needs a gate in the wall to the garden in order to work. Meanwhile, BlackBerry, BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone users can join in the fun with the Android users.

Once installed, the WhatsApp Web extension works as you would expect and in a manner similar to other multi-platform, multi-device messaging applications. You can use the web interface to type out and send your message and almost instantaneously the message will show up on your smartphone in the WhatsApp app. The process works in the opposite fashion as well – type out something on your phone and then see the conversation update almost simultaneously in the web client.

If you are a WhatsApp user and want to check it out, just hit the source link below to find the QR code you will need to get started.