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p/whatsappThe simple, reliable, secure messaging app.
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Chris Messina

WhatsApp Desktop — WhatsApp, now on your desktop

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More than 1 billion people in over 180 countries use WhatsApp1 to stay in touch with friends and family, anytime and anywhere. WhatsApp is free2 and offers simple, secure, reliable messaging and calling, available on phones all over the world

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Ryan Hoover
Franz is also a popular desktop client that merges Whatsapp, Slack, Telegram, and Messenger into one.
Zac Coffman-Magaha
@rrhoover Due to that, I see no reason to switch unless the WhatsApp team finds a way to add in features only they can.... Which I don't see happening.
Gabe Perez
@rrhoover Can say that Franz is a life changer – much recommended to anyone who is on multiple chat platforms.
Andreas Duess
@rrhoover Yes! I'm another Franz user, see no reason to move away from the best chat client out there.
Antonio Bustamante
Essentially a wrapper of their web application. Two big obstacles right now: - Their architecture. Having to depend on my phone to have a Whatsapp conversation is archaic. Sometimes I don't have my phone with me, or it's simply not connected to the same network. - Phone numbers. Whatsapp is obsessed about phone numbers, and they uniquely identify sessions and accounts. The world is moving away from phone numbers, and Whatsapp should follow along. The experience is just not flexible enough. I basically switched to LINE and Facebook Messenger because of these reasons.
Tanmay Desai
@antonio_bustamante I don't see them as obstaclrs. 1. Verifying with phone is actually a good security hack, and really easy one. It's like magic password link(Slack). 2. People I care about are in my phonebook, and not on Facebook. Never have I ever added anyone to WhatsApp. Everyone was already there from my phonebook and they keep coming. I guess the only thing that is missing - http://tapsla.sh/PAv9b85
Nir Dremer
@antonio_bustamante Totally Agree. Nice to see an official release but I could not find a single difference from ChitChat (Mac wrapper).
Chris
@antonio_bustamante How is the world moving away from phone numbers?
Antonio Bustamante
@christeso Phone numbers change up and down, and they depend on a number of factors. Keeping them is hard if you change operators, and impossible if you change countries. Modern messaging apps rely on email addresses and other identifiers that persist much longer and that allow for more flexibility.
Chris
@antonio_bustamante Interesting. I always thought phone numbers lasted longer than email addresses. Thanks for the thoughts.
Shiv
Seems like it still needs the phone connection to be active for the desktop app to work. :/
Chris Messina
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Hunter
WhatsApp is now on desktop. Holla.
Ruben Garcia
@chrismessina Finally, no more half baked electron wrappers :)
Chris Messina
Top Hunter
Hunter
@paul__walsh massive.
Dennis Kromhout van der Meer
It's great that they have an official desktop client, but it doesn't follow OSX UX guidelines. There is no way to close the chat window without closing the app - it should run in the background instead.
Mitali Pattnaik
finally! I've been using Franz which is ok but the legit version is always better
Andreas Duess
@mitali How? It's just another wrapper.
Viswanath Vtz
would be good, if @WhatsAppDesktop can add web video calling option
Kori Handy
Can't say I've ever used Whatsapp, sad but true. I live in the US and I don't have any relatives outside of Canada or US so really no point in using the app my native iOS phone features.
Faiz Mokhtar
On OSX, it's unable to run on background which I think is important for a messaging app. I have to always keep the window open for it to work. 😕
Shehbaz
It behaves just like Whatsapp web but in another wrapper. Think I'll stick to Franz for now
Austin Sandmeyer
Gold Star for the WhatsApp Team! 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Paul Gosnell
Was hoping there would be no need for my mobile being connected to network to work but sadly it does! Plus Franz is better!
Philip Amour
Got excited for a second, then I looked at the .app and figured out it's just a bloated WebApp in a wrapper. 🙁
Adam H
Useless .. Same like the web version
G G
Facebook Messenger has messenger.com which is much better. Best thing about Messenger and that sucks about WhatsApp, no multiple device login. I can use my Messenger account on tablet, laptop, and multiple phones.
Alexei Rezvanov
WhatsApp Desktop is the biggest prank in product enrollment history ))) It is not a desktop client, just a webframe.
Armando Paz
OK, so I guess it's a good idea? But what's the point if I can skip having to install anything and access instead via https://web.whatsapp.com on a browser. Same goes for https://hangouts.google.com/ and https://slack.com/signin
muller kien
@armand_paz Hi there, can you please help me out to download Adam Whatsapp desktop version? https://gbworlds.com/adam-whatsapp/ Thanks and Regards. Jhon
Austin
Maybe I'm an outlier, but I've never seen the value of whatsapp. I use hangouts, and it suits me just fine. Maybe you have to be outside the US to appreciate (or require anonymity or massive encryption), but seems to me that hangouts has everything I need.