With 600 millions users, WhatsApp is one of the most popular apps on the web, and it looks set to increase reach with its desktop avatar. It still functions as a web app, and not a native installable software, and works only on Google Chrome for now.
The WhatsApp blog announced, “Our web client is simply an extension of your phone: the web browser mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device — this means all of your messages still live on your phone.”
Available on WhatsApp Web, the service requires a user to take a picture of a QR code through WhatsApp on the phone. TechCrunch surmises that this may be because the app uses the phone number and SMS verification instead of the usual login-password routine. This system only works on Android, Windows Phone, Nokia S60, and BlackBerry, leaving iOS users out in the cold “due to Apple platform limitations,” as WhatsApp put it.
The web service is still closely tied to the phone though. If a users phone happens to die while the web app is in use, the web app dies too.
In February 2014, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for a whopping $19 billion, with $4 billion in cash, $12 billion in stock, and WhatsApp’s founders and staff receiving an additional $3 billion in stock offers if they remained with Facebook for four years.
