Whatsapp App for Mac unveiled: 3 things to know
Whatsapp is coming to the desktop. The Facebook-owned popular messaging app announced a new desktop app which can be synced with WhatsApp on a mobile device.
In January 2015, Facebook introduced the desktop version of Whatsapp for Chrome and Android OS. But to use it on a desktop, the user had to run the Web app through a browser. The new Whatsapp desktop app is believed to simplify things by enhancing the overall user experience.
Here are the three most important things to know:
Supporting OS
The new Whatsapp desktop app will be available for Windows 8 or higher and Mac OS X 10.9 or later versions. This is an addition to the existing list of apps for Android, iOS, Blackberry and Windows Phone.
How does it work?
“The app mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device,” says Whatsapp. Users will also get support for native desktop notifications along with better keyboard shortcuts.
The desktop app runs natively on the desktop and is just an extension of the mobile device, confirmed Whatsapp on a blog post.
How to download
To download the Whatsapp desktop app, users can click here from the desktop browser. They can then open the app and scan the QR code using the WhatsApp app on the mobile phone.
“As of today, one billion people are using WhatsApp” announced the company through a blog post. Earlier this year, Whatsapp axed the US$1 (AU$1.36) subscription fees for all users.
In October 2014, Facebook acquired Whatsapp for US$19 billion (AU$25.81 billion). Last month, the messaging app introduced end-to-end encryption to make data and communication more secure than ever. This means, from now onwards, WhatsApp messages can be read by the intended recipients only. Even Whatsapp will not store any data in its servers once they are delivered to the addressee.
