WhatsApp Launches Standalone Windows App Download, Mac Version Coming Soon

WhatsApp has launched a new desktop app for Windows that is now available to download on the Microsoft Store — reports The Verge.

Up until now, Windows users had to either use WhatsApp Web or download a web-based desktop app that was previously in beta to use the popular communications platform on their computers. However, the latest iteration of WhatsApp for PCs is a dedicated Windows app that no longer requires users to have their phones online to send, receive, or sync messages.

Thanks to WhatsApp’s multi-device feature, users can link up to four devices to their accounts and send and receive messages on each of them independent of their phone. Multi-device support is currently only available for computers, but WhatsApp plans to expand it to tablets in the future.

With the new Windows app, users will also receive messages when the app is closed. Since the new app is a native Windows app, it should also be faster, more reliable, and more responsive than its predecessor.

The new WhatsApp app for Windows has a slightly cleaner interface than the web-based client it is replacing, but there isn’t much else that’s different aesthetically.

WhatsApp added that it is currently working on a native Mac app as well.

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