It’s what millions of WhatsApp users have wanted for ages and it’s finally happening. The instant messaging giant, which is owned by Facebook, revealed on Wednesday that it will allow people to send and receive WhatsApp messages on their desktops via a Web client.
The Web service is still tied to users’ mobiles — they’ll need to scan a QR code to sign up once they’ve downloaded the latest version of the app on their phones — and for now it only works on the Chrome Web browser. WhatsApp is promising integration with other browsers is coming.
For now, there’s also no integration with the iPhone app, but users on Android, Windows Phone and BlackBerry will be able to get the Web client immediately. The company blamed the lack of iOS support on “Apple platform limitations”, but didn’t specify what these are.
“Today, for the first time, millions of you will have the ability to use WhatsApp on your Web browser,” WhatsApp said in a blog post.
“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.”
To connect Chrome to the WhatsApp mobile client, users must open a WhatsApp webpage where they can scan a QR code from the latest version of the mobile app.
By doing that, they pair WhatsApp on their phone with the WhatsApp Web client.
“Your phone needs to stay connected to the Internet for our Web client to work, and please make sure to install the latest version of WhatsApp on your phone.” — (c) 2015 NewsCentral Media
