When you think of WhatsApp, other than privacy concerns, the first thing that comes to your mind is chats or free video calls. While it’s not far from the truth at all, the world’s most popular instant messaging app won’t require having a phone connected to work in the near future.
You can use WhatsApp on a laptop or desktop computer, but for the moment, you also need to have the app opened on your smartphone.
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Let’s suppose you don’t have access to your smartphone for whatever reasons and can’t access WhatsApp for a while and have a non-touchscreen phone at your disposal. That’s when using WhatsApp Web on your computer without having to open the app on your phone becomes a good idea.
Available for PC since 2015
Since 2015, WhatsApp made available its PC version for mirroring conversations from the mobile app. A lot of users demanded that keeping the phone connected to the app will stop being a condition for using WhatsApp Web, and there’s a huge hint that the developers are working to grant the users their long-lasted wish.
WABetaInfo’s Twitter account, a trusted source when it comes to plans of those in charge of developing the Facebook-owned app, reveals that WhatsApp could be preparing the release of a UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app with a new multi-platform system. By doing so, WhatsApp will work on a PC even if your smartphone is off.
@WhatsApp will offer a WhatsApp Web Beta program for iOS and Android beta users, in order to use WhatsApp Web without having to keep your phone connected to the Internet!
Follow @WABetaInfo to discover when WhatsApp will open the beta program!Details: https://t.co/jvq4kF2mzF pic.twitter.com/IXaUrflm2E
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) March 19, 2021
Telegram, one of WhatsApp’s main rivals, already has a similar feature. There’s no wonder why a lot of users of the Facebook-owned app choose to switch to Telegram in recent months – it becomes very beneficial to be able to use an instant messaging app if your phone’s battery is running low, for instance, and you have a laptop in your suitcase.
Over 2 billion users and counting
WhatsApp recently surpassed a staggering milestone: over 2 billion people are using the app, meaning almost a quarter of the world’s population. The Facebook-owned app even reached more than 5 billion installs from the Google Play Store. Video calling probably represents the most accessed feature, as each day WhatsApp processes over 340 million minutes of video calls.
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All WhatsApp versions are free of charge, but even so, we all know how things usually go in technology: improvements can always be made. The developers of WhatsApp are proving it regularly. For instance, several spokespeople of the instant messaging app confirmed that WhatsApp began to roll out video and voice calls for users of PC and Mac starting March 4, 2021.
After many users had been craving for the functionality to be implemented, they have finally seen their dream come true. WhatsApp even implemented the same feature in 2020, but it was only for a small group of users.
One of the top instant messaging app’s officials said it very clear:
“Sometimes you just need a little more space. Secure and reliable, end-to-end encrypted voice and video calls are now available on our desktop app.”
WhatsApp continues to have very strong features, and we can expect that even more will be added. Whether you need to send disappearing messages, join groups based on certain topics, use the advanced search mode or the permanent mute option, take advantage of QR codes and various payments, and many more, WhatsApp is there to grant your wishes!
The app is available in 60 languages for Android users and in 40 languages for those using iOS devices. WhatsApp was founded by the billionaire Jan Koum, who has an incredible life story. Despite having a net worth of about $10.2 billion, he quit going to college a long time ago.
