Messenger
Whatsapp can be used for the first time without a smartphone – this is how it works
Whatsapp can now also be used on Windows – without a smartphone connection (icon image)
© RyanJLane / Getty Images
So far, the popular Messenger Whatsapp could only be used in conjunction with a switched-on smartphone. Now, for the first time, the Facebook subsidiary is offering the option of using it independently.
It is one of the most successful apps in the world: more than two billion people around the world use Whatsapp to chat with each other, exchange pictures and videos or stay in touch via video calls. But the messenger has had one major shortcoming so far: nothing worked without a smartphone. If the battery was empty, WhatsApp could not be used either. Now that has come to an end.
With the introduction of its revised app for Windows, Whatsapp’s parent company Meta presented the first opportunity to use the messenger independently of the smartphone. If you are wondering because Whatsapp for Windows has been around for a long time: Like the web version, the Windows app has so far only reflected the messages from the smartphone. The revised version can now also be used independently.
A long way
The fact that the step was so long in coming is mainly due to the problem of encryption. Messages sent with Whatsapp are end-to-end encrypted, and Whatsapp itself cannot decrypt the content during transmission. However, this also meant that only one device per user had access to the chats. If you wanted to add another smartphone, the old one lost access. Meta has now cracked this problem, boss Mark Zuckerberg announced in a surprise interview last year. Since spring, you can now log on to the messenger on up to four devices at the same time.
“It was technically really difficult to sync all the messages and content correctly, even when the phone battery is dead,” Zuckerberg explained. “But we got it solved.” The new Windows app is now the first client to benefit from it.
How to use Whatsapp without your smartphone
To use Messenger without a smartphone connection, you first have to download the current version of the WhatsApp app from the Microsoft Store. Then the QR code known from the old app and Whatsapp-Web appears in order to link his account with the new app. Unfortunately, Whatsapp still cannot be used entirely without a smartphone. Scanning the code requires an active Whatsapp account on a smartphone. This is because Messenger uses the phone number used to create it as the user ID. Once the activation is complete, you no longer need the smartphone to be able to chat on Windows and, more recently, even make phone calls. If the battery is empty or you lose your smartphone, the messenger continues to work on the computer. Whatsapp warns that the second devices are only logged off if the smartphone has not been online for 14 days.
Although the new app is only available for Windows computers, this should only be the first step. According to Metas, they are already working on a version for Apple’s Mac computers. And a version for tablets such as the iPad, which many Whatsapp fans have been longing for, could finally be on the agenda with the new substructure for use on multiple devices. A test version for Android had already contained information that a tablet version was actively being worked on. It is not yet known if and when it will appear.
Those:Whatsapp, WABetaInfo
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