@WhatsApp comes to the Desktop via the Browser - Why Desktop on Laptop and PC is Mobile Social Network's Last Frontier

WhatsApp does it yet again, making news for something that’s really not news. Albeit it is on their WhatsApp Blog!

Turns out that Facebook-owned WhatsApp has launched a web based visions of WhatsApp  called WhatsApp Web that allows you to use WhatsApp on your Desktop via your Browser as reported in the article “Facebook's WhatsApp comes to Desktop computers”, published January 21, 2015 12:35 PM PST by Richard Nieva, CNET News and “WhatsApp launches Desktop messaging option”, published 21 January 2015 Last updated at 20:09 GMT , BBC News.

The News was officially announced with instruction in a WhatsApp Blog article entitled quite appropriately WhatsApp Web.

WhatsApp has  some 700 million Active Monthly users as noted in my blog article entitled “WhatsApp reaches 700 million Active Monthly Users - Double Blue Checkmarks from China, Japan and South Korea and Russia with Love” so this is actually a bid deal, really.

To bloggers and other peeps that follow this stuff, this seems strange.

After all, it’s well known that you can install either Bluestacks App Player or Andy App Player to run android Apps such as WhatsApp as noted in my blog article entitled “How to use the BlueStacks App Player to play Android Apps on PC or Laptop - Bluestacks App Player is The Great Gatsby for Android”.

Alternately, for a more realistic Android experience, you can use the Andy App Player that fully simulates the Google Android OS to run WhatsApp as noted in my blog article entitled “How to use the Andy App Player to play Android Apps on PC or Laptop - Android and Windows Live-OS swappable Project looks more possible”.

I even did a more detailed “How to” step-by-step article on how to use WhatsApp on your computer using the Bluestacks App Player in a Geezam blog article entitled “How to use WhatsApp on your Computer”. So the knowledge of how to install WhatsApp on your desktop or Laptop computer is out there!

You can also mirror your smartphone using SplashTop’s Mirroring360 and Squirrel’s Reflector which works well for Apple iPhones as well as Google Android smartphones as noted in my blog article entitled “SplashTop’s Mirroring360 and Squirrel’s Reflector lets you mirror your Apple iPhone, iPad or iPod Nano to your Desktop or Laptop”.

Finally, to throw in the Kitchen sink, Google even made their own mirroring software in the form of a Chrome Remote Desktop for Android App allows you to remotely control your computer using your smartphone once Google Chrome Remote Desktop  is installed as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google Chrome Remote Desktop lets you control your computer from Google Chrome for Android App”. 

So with all these alternatives, how is being able to access WhatsApp via your Browser such a big deal? Short answer; more convenient and Bigger Screen!

WhatsApp comes to the Desktop via the Browser – How to use WhatsApp Web in your Browser

WhatsApp Web on your Desktop is a Browser Application that you log into rather than install as a Browser Extension or comes baked into your Browser as a native application. Also, it appears to be a lot more comfortable working with Google Chrome Browsers and Google Android smartphones that Apple iPhones, which is strange, as Facebook and Google are enemies.

Brace yourselves Apple peeps; it gets stranger and Google-ier from there.

The WhatsApp Web Browser Extension only works with Google Android smartphones, not Apple iPhones. To be precise, the WhatsApp Web Browser Extension only supports the following smartphone and their respective OS:

1.      Google Android

2.      Windows Phone

3.      BlackBerry

4.      Nokia S60

Also, you'll still need your smartphone during the process of connecting to your WhatsApp via your computer's Browser. Your smarphone needs to have a Data Service or be connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi as well as it has to be the latest update of WhatsApp, as it need to update to support the WhatsApp Web Browser Extension.

To login, click on WhatsApp Web link or copy the URL (Universal Resource Locator) http://web.whatsapp.com/ into the Address bar of your browser.

A QR Code then appears as shown below.

Using WhatsApp, scan the QR Code in a manner similar to gaining access to one of those Anonymous Mobile Social Networks that Facebook is allowing people to create in a throwback to the 90's called Facebook Rooms as detailed in my blog article entitled “Facebook launches Facebook Rooms - The 90’s Return as Facebook faces competition from Anonymous Mobile Social Networks”.

In the case of WhatsApp, it’s not about guaranteeing privacy, but because WhatsApp uses SMS and telephone number to validate users. Thus, in order to do that on a Desktop, it has to encrypt your smartphone's phone numbers as a QR Code, which you then have to take a picture of using WhatsApp as part of the login process.

WhatsApp on your smartphone reads the QR Code presented in the Browser and thus synchs your smartphone to the Desktop using the information encoded in the QR Code displayed. In essence, you're really mirrorring your smartphone as hinted in the article “WhatsApp Is Now Available on the Desktop”, published 1/22/2015 @ 12:11AM by Amit Chowdhry, Forbes.

Once this mirroring procedure is complete, just like any mirroring of a Smartphone to a Desktop via a Browser Extension as in the case of the Chrome Remote Desktop for Android App that allows you to remotely control your computer using your smartphone once Google Chrome Remote Desktop  is installed as noted in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google Chrome Remote Desktop lets you control your computer from Google Chrome for Android App”, you have to:

1.      Keep your smartphone turned on and battery charged

2.      Keep the smartphone connected to the Internet

3.      Make sure WhatsApp is running while using the WhatsApp Web

4.      Make sure the Browser on your Laptop for Desktop computer is running

If any of these closes, you’ll lose synchronization and the WhatsApp Web will be unable to send and receive messages via WhatsApp.

In fact, if your smartphone battery starts running out of power, you'll see an orange warning indicator in WhatsApp Web advising you to get your smartphone charged or lose the connection as noted in the article “WhatsApp Comes to the Desktop”, published 21.01.2015 by Greg Kumparak, Techcrunch.

Albeit a good attempt at making mirroring convenient for the non-technical user, the lack of a solution for the Apple iPhone is an indication of the difficulties of coding Objective C programs to work with Apple iOS.

WhatsApp on your PC or Laptop - Bluestacks App Player and the Andy App Player are still better

Still I prefer to use the Bluestacks App Player and the Andy App Player. If only the Bluestacks App Player and the Andy App Player were popular enough, this wouldn't have happened. 

Its isn't surprising to me personally, as with the popularity of WhatsApp, it's a little annoying to type messages on that little smartphone screen; at times we long for a bigger screen with a keyboard as noted in the article “WhatsApp Comes To The Desktop”, published 21.01.2015 by Greg Kumparak, Techcrunch.

So really and truly, it's really about convenience; most American and by extension Jamaicans dislike fiddling with their computer once they got it working right. They're especially wary of installing any software that they don't understand.

Plus a Desktop Browser based version of WhatsApp makes sense as WhatsApp was born as a Mobile Social Network.

Hence the reason why Facebook purchased them as noted in my blog article entitled “Facebook acquires WhatsApp for US$19 Billion - CEO Jan Koum Revelry will fade once faced with BBM and Google+, Guardians of the Galaxy of Mobile Social Networks” with the Desktop in all countries remaining as the last unconquered frontier.

Here’s the link:

WhatsApp Web