You can now use WhatsApp on your Mac, but there’s a catch

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You can now use WhatsApp on your Mac, but there's a catch. Photo: Cult of Mac
You can now use WhatsApp on your Mac, but there's a catch. Photo: Cult of Mac

WhatsApp is a great alternative to iMessage, except in one regard: iMessage lets you send messages from your Mac. That means if you hate tapping in text messages on a touchscreen, you can use your keyboard instead.

But that’s changed. The long-awaited ability to use WhatsApp on your Mac has finally arrived. But there’s a caveat: It only works if you don’t have an iPhone.

The WhatsApp desktop client is a Web app that allows users to communicate with their contacts right through the desktop. Technically, it works on more than just the desktop: It also runs on Android and Windows devices, although curiously not iOS.

What we’re interested in, though, is the Mac support. WhatsApp won’t work on Safari — the WhatsApp team hints such support may be coming soon — but it does work on the latest versions of Chrome.

Once you load up the WhatsApp Web client by visiting web.whatsapp.com in Chrome, it’s easy to set up … if you have an Android, BlackBerry or Windows phone, that is. Just load up the app on your smartphone, scan the QR code and voila: WhatsApp in your desktop browser.

So why doesn’t this work on the iPhone? Simply put, the scanning option hasn’t been added to the iPhone version of WhatsApp yet, which puts desktop WhatsApp just out of reach for some Apple fans.

But be patient. Hopefully, we’re just an app update away from never having to load up WhatsApp on our iPhones again.

Via: iDownloadBlog

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