WhatsApp for Windows Will Soon Become a Web App

WhatsApp is about to ditch its native Windows app in favor of a new web app. The new client, which is now available in beta (via Neowin), uses Microsoft’s WebView 2 technology under the hood, but it’s not all bad news.

The new beta client adds support for WhatsApp Channels and new features for Status updates and Communities. Switching to a web-based app may allow new features to arrive faster, though there may be a performance hit on Windows PCs. This is something quite noticeable with the new web-based Outlook for Windows, which many users find generally inferior and slower than the “classic” desktop app.

Two years ago, the WhatsApp team was proud to announce a brand new WhatsApp app for Windows that “loads faster and is built with an interface familiar to WhatsApp and Windows users.” Well, the new web app isn’t going to look as “native,” but maybe this is the price to pay to get new features more frequently.

It’s not clear yet if WhatsApp is also going to replace its native Mac app with a web app. To continue with the Outlook parallel, Microsoft didn’t replace its superior and native Outlook for Mac app with a web-based client. Even though the Mac userbase is much smaller, it’s not uncommon to see companies go the extra mile to make their Mac apps look more native. A company like OpenAI first launched its ChatGPT desktop app on macOS, and Mac users still enjoy exclusive access to a new Record mode.