If you are one of the 700 million users of WhatsApp, rejoice! Your favourite mobile messaging application has come to the desktop, accessible through your web browser.
Excited? We are!
To access your WhatsApp account on the web, simply go to web.whatsapp.com on Google Chrome (the only supported browser, as of now). The site prompts you to scan a QR code to pair your phone app with the web version. Effectively, the web client has now become an extension of your mobile device, and will mirror your chats on the phone.
But there’s a caveat: Your phone needs to be connected to the Internet while using the web version. Also, you need to ensure you have the latest version of WhatsApp on your phone.
WhatsApp on the Wed is available for Android, BlackBerry and Windows phones, but not yet for Apple users.
“Unfortunately for now, we will not be able to provide web client to our iOS users due to Apple platform limitations”, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum announced in a Facebook post.
However, WhatsApp still has a long way to go before it reaches the poularity of Telegram, which has a dedicated web client and Chrome extension, apart from supporting all major mobile platforms.
For now, though, it’s a time to celebrate, as the Tweeple are doing. Some reactions:
#WhatsappForWeb is cool! Just remb to be careful who is next to u if u want to keep a chat personal & log off each time to prevent misuse!
whats the point of using #WhatsappForWeb if we have to keep our Phone Data conection On all the time
— Undercover Agent (@sandeiepchanda) January 22, 2015
whats app for browsers is awesome :D. Dont have to unlock the phone every time to view messages at work, Saves battery #WhatsappForWeb
— PrithviRaj (@Prithvirules) January 22, 2015
