Everything you need to know about WhatsApp Web
WhatsApp is a popular messaging client for mobile devices including Google Android, iOS and Windows Phone.
The developers of the client have enabled WhatsApp Web yesterday which enables you to use the client on the Internet site.
This works by means of synchronization which means that you can only use the web interface if you have authorized it for the session using your phone.
This limits the service significantly and it is not the only limitation in place currently. When you visit the WhatsApp Web site in any browser but Google Chrome you receive the message that only Chrome is supported.
If you don't use Chrome and don't want or can install it on the computer you are working on, you cannot use WhatsApp Web at all.
How it works
Make sure that you are running the latest version of WhatsApp on your mobile device. On Android, WhatsApp Web is included in version 2.11.498 and up for example.
Update: WhatsApp Web is not added in that version but remotely from WhatsApp. This means that it will appear eventually if you cannot find the option right now on your device.
- Tap on the three dots in the upper right corner to display the main menu.
- There you should find the new WhatsApp Web option which you need to tap on.
- A short explanation of the feature is displayed the first time you use it.
- Visit the service website in Google Chrome.
- Use the QR Code scanner on the mobile device to scan the code displayed on the website.
- This syncs the phone's data with the website and displays your groups, chats and conversations on the site.
Use the following options if you are using a different phone operating system:
- BlackBerry: Chats -> Menu-key -> WhatsApp Web.
- Windows Phone, Nokia S60: Menu -> WhatsApp Web
- iOS: not available currently.
A click on a conversation displays it in the main area on the right. There you can browse the message history including all media and post new messages right from the interface.
All controls, including voice messages and adding attachments are available on the web interface as well.
You can turn on desktop notifications in Chrome to receive notifications whenever new messages arrive, configure your profile and status, and create new chats.
WhatsApp on the mobile device displays all computers that you are logged in currently when you select the WhatsApp Web option again from the menu.
There you can also add links to other computer systems with a click on the plus icon.
The page displays information about the computer (last active and operating system), and comes with an option to log out if all computers at once.
Information are only updated on the web interface if your phone is connected to the Internet. You receive an error message on the website when that is not the case.
Phone not connected
Make sure your phone has an active Internet connection.
Information that were retrieved previously on the other hand remain available. When you reload the page, you receive another error message if your phone is not connected to the Internet.
Trying to reach phone
Make sure your phone has an active Internet connection.
The service retries to connect to the phone automatically and provides you with options to retry manually or log out of the session.
This means that you need to log out on the web or using your phone to remove all information on the web interface.
Closing Words
WhatsApp Web is severely limited right now. Not only is it only supporting Google Chrome on desktop systems, it is also not available for iOS and requires the phone to be connected to the Internet to work at all.
The only advantage you get from using it on the web is that you can use the computer's keyboard to write messages, work on a larger screen, and get desktop notifications so that you don't need to pay attention to your phone for that.
Now You: Have you used the new service already? What is your take on it.
Doesn’t Windows 8 know that www. or http:// are passe ?
Well it is a bit difficulty to distinguish between name.com domains and files for instance.
I know a service made by google that is similar to Google bookmarks.
http://www.google.com/saved
@Ashwin–Thankful you delighted my comment; who knows how many “gamers” would have disagreed!
@Martin
The comments section under this very article (3 comments) is identical to the comments section found under the following article:
https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/15/netflix-is-testing-game-streaming-on-tvs-and-computers/
Not sure what the issue is, but have seen this issue under some other articles recently but did not report it back then.
Omg a badge!!!
Some tangible reward lmao.
It sucks that redditors are going to love the fuck out of it too.
With the cloud, there is no such thing as unlimited storage or privacy. Stop relying on these tech scums. Purchase your own hardware and develop your own solutions.
This is a certified reddit cringe moment. Hilarious how the article’s author tries to dress it up like it’s anything more than a png for doing the reddit corporation’s moderation work for free (or for bribes from companies and political groups)
Almost al unlmited services have a real limit.
And this comment is written on the dropbox article from August 25, 2023.
First comment > @ilev said on August 4, 2012 at 7:53 pm
For the God’s sake, fix the comments soon please! :[
Yes. Please. Fix the comments.
With Google Chrome, it’s only been 1,500 for some time now.
Anyone who wants to force me in such a way into buying something that I can get elsewhere for free will certainly never see a single dime from my side. I don’t even know how stupid their marketing department is to impose these limits on users instead of offering a valuable product to the paying faction. But they don’t. Even if you pay, you get something that is also available for free elsewhere.
The algorithm has also become less and less savvy in terms of e.g. English/German translations. It used to be that the bot could sort of sense what you were trying to say and put it into different colloquialisms, which was even fun because it was like, “I know what you’re trying to say here, how about…” Now it’s in parts too stupid to translate the simplest sentences correctly, and the suggestions it makes are at times as moronic as those made by Google Translations.
If this is a deep-learning AI that learns from users’ translations and the phrases they choose most often – which, by the way, is a valuable, moneys worthwhile contribution of every free user to this project: They invest their time and texts, thereby providing the necessary data for the AI to do the thing as nicely as they brag about it in the first place – alas, the more unprofessional users discovered the translator, the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, the greater the aggregate of linguistically illiterate users has become, and the worse the language of this deep-learning bot has become, as it now learns the drivel of every Tom, Dick and Harry out there, which is why I now get their Mickey Mouse language as suggestions: the inane language of people who can barely spell the alphabet, it seems.
And as a thank you for our time and effort in helping them and their AI learn, they’ve lowered the limit from what was once 5,000 to now 1,500…? A big “fuck off” from here for that! Not a brass farthing from me for this attitude and behaviour, not in a hundred years.
When will you put an end to the mess in the comments?
Ghacks comments have been broken for too long. What article did you see this comment on? Reply below. If we get to 20 different articles we should all stop using the site in protest.
I posted this on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/] so please reply if you see it on a different article.
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Comment redirected me to [https://www.ghacks.net/2012/08/04/add-search-the-internet-to-the-windows-start-menu/] which seems to be the ‘real’ article it is attached to
Article Title: Reddit enforces user activity tracking on site to push advertising revenue
Article URL: https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
No surprises here. This is just the beginning really. I cannot see a valid reason as to why anyone would continue to use the platform anymore when there are enough alternatives fill that void.
I’m not sure if there is a point in commenting given that comments seem to appear under random posts now, but I’ll try… this comment is for https://www.ghacks.net/2023/09/28/reddit-enforces-user-activity-tracking-on-site-to-push-advertising-revenue/
My temporary “solution”, if you can call it that, is to use a VPN (Mullvad in my case) to sign up for and access Reddit via a European connection. I’m doing that with pretty much everything now, at least until the rest of the world catches up with GDPR. I don’t think GDPR is a magical privacy solution but it’s at least a first step.