9 ms·

Whatsapp Web

131 points by benjlang 12y ago

quintin 12y ago
I couldn’t figure out a way to install this.
- marrone12 12y ago
  It looks like it's only on Android/Windows/Blackberry
- thomaslutz 12y ago
  Install or sign in?
- sensecall 12y ago
  Looks like it's only compatible with Chrome at the moment, and no iOS support. https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080002 https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080002
- jug5 12y ago
  It seems you need a version of WhatsApp on your phone that isn't out yet.
  - SchizoDuckie 12y ago
    Indeed. Play Store says I have the latest version... anybody have a working apk?
    - dutchbrit 12y ago
      Try the following APK: http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-.. http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-.... (yes, it's not the newest release but they apparently did a rollback after this version removing the web menu item)
thomaslutz 12y ago
Does not work for iOS yet? Edit: "At this time, WhatsApp Web is available only for Android, Windows Phone, Nokia S60, BlackBerry and BB10 smartphones." https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003 https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003
- Mikeb85 12y ago
  Apple's browser is probably lacking necessary features. They have been much slower adopting features than the competition.
  - danielhunt 12y ago
    It's not the browser ... the iOS app doesn't yet have the capability to scan the QR code to link your account to the website
  - mattnewton 12y ago
    That doesn't seem likely to me: what features does iOS not have right now, that this is likely to use? It seems more likely if they are targeting chrome only they did it to avoid the support overhead of making it work in multiple browsers.
  - wklauss 12y ago
    > They have been much slower adopting features than the competition. It's not a matter of speed. This seems to be using WebRTC for handling communications between the phone app and the browser. Safari has chosen not to implement WebRTC and so far it is still not a proper standard so I can see why. Google, as the developer of WebRTC, will obviously support it right away. Note that no browser other than Chrome can be used as well.
  - jamesrom 12y ago
    Wait, you know that WebKit is spearheaded by Apple? And that there's two completely unrelated problems here: 1. The frontend only works on Chrome for desktop (it appears only because it uses the non-standards track filesystem API) 2. The backend service and mobile app does not work with iOS (it appears because it uses background networking) They may seem related, but they aren't.
benjlang 12y ago
Not working for me yet.
cvburgess 12y ago
So what exactly is whatsapp web? [edit] Found the answer at https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003 https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003 > WhatsApp Web is a computer based extension of the WhatsApp account on your phone. The messages you send and receive are fully synced between your phone and your computer, and you can see all messages on both devices. Any action you take on the phone will apply to WhatsApp Web and vice versa.
hawkice 12y ago
I'm using Chromium, says it only supports Chrome. Can we shave some characters off the regex here?
- bello 12y ago
  As a temporary solution, you could spoof the user agent by running chromium from command line: chromium-browser --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/39.0.1132.47 Safari/536.11"
radicalbyte 12y ago
I thought that Whatsapp didn't store (or read) messages, and that was why it was so secure / awesome? So how can they do this?
- nichochar 12y ago
  You're mistaken, they do store. And don't hide it. Also they don't even encrypt, they send messages over the air in plain text. YAY $16 billion!
  - derefr 12y ago
    Didn't WhatsApp integrate TextSecure?
  - dethstar 12y ago
    https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - subliminalpanda 12y ago
    Hopefully that will change soon. https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/
  - higherpurpose 12y ago
    Ugh. This is why I was saying before that I'm quite worried that Whatsapp itself didn't come out and say publicly that it uses TextSecure's end-to-end protocol, and that we should stop praising them for "adopting end-to-end encryption" until they actually say they did (for which I got downvoted).
- rdtsc 12y ago
  How is dropping a message to someone who is not online or cannot be reached at that instant because of network connectivity awesome?
- 12y ago
fabrice_d 12y ago
So it seems to do some pairing between your phone and chrome? Not really what I call a web version. A real web version would run on, you know, any reasonably recent web browser.
- derefr 12y ago
  I think the point of the pairing itself is more just to make sure people only have as many WhatsApp accounts as they have phone numbers. Not sure why it's Chrome only, though.
- D_Guidi 12y ago
  I suspect that pairing is needed only to not use an account other that phone number
arcticf0x 12y ago
Doesn't work, apparently you need to scan the code from your phone's WhatsApp which you can't due to lack of that functionality.
ramonck 12y ago
Doesn't work for iOS! Better not release it then! :)
- Aldo_MX 12y ago
  iOS users should already be resigned that they'll always receive updates later
- dpacmittal 12y ago
  Why not?
therealmarv 12y ago
installed newest Android version. Does not work here. No option for scanning QR
- balls187 12y ago
  Did you try: Menu -> Whats App Web?
  - dpacmittal 12y ago
    There's no option called 'WhatsApp Web". I'm on 2.11.491
    - balls187 12y ago
      My friend said it took a few seconds, then the option appeared. Sorry for the 2nd hand account. I'm on iOS.
- KhalilK 12y ago
  Same here.
balls187 12y ago
This is sweet. I like being able to chat with my friends while I am at work so I'm glad to see WhatsApp bringing web access. Hopefully iOS support is around the corner, but given how often iOS gets preferential treatment over Android, I'm okay with my Droid friends getting first crack at it.
kylec 12y ago
The title should more correctly say "Whatsapp for Google Chrome". You can't really say it's for "web" if Chrome is the only browser you support.
- profmonocle 12y ago
  Maybe they're doing client-side encryption in JavaScript? Apparently native JS crypto is incomplete in Firefox: http://caniuse.com/#feat=cryptography http://caniuse.com/#feat=cryptography
adrianlmm 12y ago
Really? http://imagebin.org/328080 http://imagebin.org/328080
- handsomeransoms 12y ago
  FYI Google Chrome warns that imagebin.com "might contain malware".
ameyjah 12y ago
I like it. This was certainly needed; especially when I am working.
applecore 12y ago
> WhatsApp Web only works in Google Chrome. It's 2015, and we're still using browser compatibility checks.
Animats 12y ago
What did they do in an add-on that won't work in Firefox? Chrome add-ons and Firefox add-ons are rather close; I have one that has about 80% common code.
conqrr 12y ago
This is truly useless, It needs your phone to stay on to access the web version. And why is it a web version if only Google Chrome is supported.
orliesaurus 12y ago
Its awesome, I can save my phone battery by switching it off and leaving only whatsapp on! boom!
- conqrr 12y ago
  No its not. Your phone needs to stay on the whole time.
  - orliesaurus 12y ago
    Damn, you're right! That's a bit of a downer :(
  - pycassa 12y ago
    Really.. I use a dumb feature phone and the only thing I want in is whatsapp.. Thought of signing in once with a smart phone and using it forever and continue using my dumb phone..
kiuiras 12y ago
Which version of Android app do you use? 2.11.498 seems don't work for me. There isn't a WhatsappWeb option.
- dpacmittal 12y ago
  How did you even get 2.11.498 (which seems to be newer than mine but still not latest)? I'm trying to download and all I get is 2.11.491.
  - kiuiras 12y ago
    From Play Store. I think version varies with device. On WhatsApp site there's still your version.
    - shubham_mittal 12y ago
      I think that version is for Nexus 5. I can't install 491, and 498 doesn't have the menu option :(
- kiwidrew 12y ago
  I'm running 2.11.498 (just updated) on my Android phone and the menu option is there. The new web.whatsapp.com just started working for me this morning. (I'm on Chrome OS.)
hugovie 12y ago
I have been waiting for this move for a long time, but, badly, doesn't support iOS yet :-S
Nux 12y ago
They should have waited with the announcement until they got more browsers supported. This is really frustrating.
- cpach 12y ago
  Sure, but they gotta start somewhere.
dbailey5 12y ago
Pleeeease don't hijack my back button
thinkt4nk 12y ago
Heck of a roll-out, guys. - only works on one browser - requires interop with the mobile app - supporting mobile app version on Android only - supporting mobile app version not universally available on Android, presumably because of Google Play registry population or something.
- SifJar 12y ago
  Also works with mobile apps for WP, BB and BB10. Only iOS support is missing, really.
  - kaishiro 12y ago
    And every single other major browser.
raonyguimaraes 12y ago
This is apparently not available in my country (Brazil) ... Whatsapp version 2.11.476 updated on 16 jan 2015 I guess it's only limited to US and other regions.
- dpacmittal 12y ago
  Used a US VPN to see whats the latest version and its 2.11.491, which is the same as installed version on mine (India). However, I still don't see the option to scan QR code.
  - corin_ 12y ago
    I'm on WP8 which I imagine you probably aren't, so this may not be useful to you, but in case it's relevant across platforms, or in case there are any WP8 readers: a.) I updated when I saw this HN submission, a 17mb update, to version 2.11.634 (it didn't updated automatically, but was available when I checked my app store) b.) Opening whatsapp after the update showed it had updated (I could see some other features that had changed), but I couldn't find the web option. After killing whatsapp and restarting it, it then appeared on a menu where it hadn't been before
    - raonyguimaraes 12y ago
      It's finally working for me, so i guess it will be available worldwide :D
tiffanyh 12y ago
I know everyone is complaining about Chrome only support, but the more important question we should be asking is what technology stack are they using for the web client? It's well documented that Whatsapp is a Erlang shop. Did they stay with using Erlang for the web as well ... or did they switch to another technology like Nodejs, etc?
- arianvanp 12y ago
  They seem to be using React for the View rendering. Websockets for data. Bluebird for promises. Google's CryptoJS for end-to-end encryption. MomentJS for time formatting. The code seems to be pretty modular There are some nice gems in it like EXIF format decoding etc. This is nice to reverse engineer :)
skynetv2 12y ago
I changed the UA on Frirefox, then whatsapp web started working. Firefix even showed desktop notifications. BTW, you cannot have two web sessions going on at the same time. Once you start a new session on one browser, other detects and prompts "WhatsApp Web is open on another computer or browser. Click “Use Here” to use WhatsApp Web in this window." also, it needs phone to be connected to whatsapp service. So it sync from phone to your browser.
sandy23 12y ago
I dont see whatsapp web on whatsapp menu of my computer.
programmer_dude 12y ago
I had to restart my phone to see the whatsapp web menu option. I am on Android.
corin_ 12y ago
A lot of negativity, but despite its limitations I already love it. (OK love's too much, but it's a big improvement for me at least.) I don't use whatsapp with a huge number of people, but some of them I talk to daily on it. When we're both behind a computer (work hours, sometimes outside them) we'll often move to Skype to be able to type quicker. Skype's pretty horrible on phones (for me and most people I know), so usually prefer whatsapp when not using PCs/laptops. Sure it's not a huge change, but just being able to type quickly when sat at my laptop, and not needing to keep grabbing my phone to see what's been said, is a great change for me. One that I was complaining about just the other day without realising this was around the corner. In case anyone's interested, here's what it looks like for me in Chrome (nothing unexpected really): http://i.imgur.com/90C0v9V.png http://i.imgur.com/90C0v9V.png (Added bonus in the required app upgrade for WP8: message delivery status icons now shown in list of conversation, rather than just once you are inside a conversation - I know this feature was on at least one platform months ago, maybe all others, and it's [very slightly] annoyed me since I moved to Windows)
- tracker1 12y ago
  Have you considered Google Hangouts? I tend to use that for most of my chatting, so never really "got" whatsapp.
  - corin_ 12y ago
    I don't know anyone who uses them - or at least, nobody has ever suggested I use them. And I haven't been interested enough to try myself to consider converting other users. I've got enough communication routes already without adding a new one unless it can either replace one of the current ones (I won't get all my friends who use whatsapp to switch so it won't do that) or I need it to talk to a subset of people I know (not the case currently with hangouts - this was why I started using whatsapp in the first place, though)
  - redthrow 12y ago
    Hangouts is pretty good. Now it doesn't require you to have Google+ account, and (unlike Whatsapp) you don't _need_ to use a phone number that's tied to a telco, and it handles multiple accounts pretty well.
Zepplock 12y ago
Back button is not working in Chrome on Mac
Zepplock 12y ago
Back button is not working in Chrome on Mac
Aldo_MX 12y ago
I appreciate most an Open API the same way Telegram[1] does. But at least, this is a -somewhat acceptable- first step. [1] https://core.telegram.org/ https://core.telegram.org/
tracker1 12y ago
While maybe not directly on topic, I've never seen the point of Whatsapp over plain SMS, or for that matter any of the other chat apps that can do way more (Google Hangouts, Skype, etc)... what's the point?
- seppo0010 12y ago
  In some countries the price per SMS is not null. Also you have received verification. And group messaging with some features that are not available in MMS. Also end to end encryption.
kiwidrew 12y ago
It works quite well. They've done a great job at following Google's "Material Design" prescriptions while -- surprisingly -- not actually using the Polymer framework. First time I've seen that. The app loads some interesting libraries: * CryptoJS 3.1.2 (for AES and HMAC-SHA256) * punycode 2.1.4 * bluebird 2.5.3 * React 0.12.2 (with addons) It's entirely possible that they really are doing end-to-end crypto...
- WaterSponge 12y ago
  They did this recently: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/11/18/whatsapp_adds_textsecure_end_to_end_encryption_by_partnering_with_open_whisper.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/11/18/whatsapp_...
isarang 12y ago
v2.11.498 working
dutchbrit 12y ago
Strange that this isn't on the frontpage, anyhow, for people who can't get it working for Android, try the following APK: http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-2-11-498-apk/ http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-... (yes, it's not the newest release but they did a rollback after this version removing the web menu item). Reboot your phone after installing.
PauloManrique 12y ago
It's 2015, we use multiple devices, phones, tablets, computer, smart TVs, and they still didn't figure that out? Come on, ICQ, Telegram, Groupme, Viber and tons of other apps have multiple clients for multiple devices. Sadly people take too long to change, or else WhatsApp would be dead already.
ravinder 12y ago
To make the 'Whatasapp web' option show on the latest Android version on my phone I had to do this: 1. Back up your data (Whatsapp Menu > Settings > Chat Settings > Backup conversations) 2. Go to 'App Info' for Whatsapp had to 'Clear data' (Settings > Applications > Applications Manager > Whatsapp) 3. Restart phone 4. Access whatsapp -> enter your phone number -> restore from backup 5. The 'Whatsapp Web' should appear under menu now
- lpino 12y ago
  Worked for me, Android 4.3 + Galaxy S3. Thanks!
- achim123 12y ago
  yes this works, but will reset all stats :(... i restored my titaium backup... i still missing the Web Entry in menu :(
mkremer90 12y ago
Why does this completely destroy the back button?
praeivis 12y ago
Why it's called web client if: WhatsApp Web only works in Google Chrome and do not work with iOS?
jaseemabid 12y ago
There is a very good criticism here: http://andregarzia.com/posts/en/whatsappdoesntunderstandtheweb http://andregarzia.com/posts/en/whatsappdoesntunderstandthew... and I have to agree to all of it.
andor 12y ago
Can anybody explain how this is supposed to work in combination with the end-to-end encryption that's allegedly implemented in the Android client? I can see all my Android to Android conversations in the Web client.
leet 12y ago
Unfortunately it is not a desktop client and you have to open the browser all the time to open it. Use this to get a desktop client on mac http://lifepluslinux.blogspot.in/2015/01/whatsapp-web-desktop-client-for-mac.html http://lifepluslinux.blogspot.in/2015/01/whatsapp-web-deskto...
JUAN123456 12y ago
It was written using reactJS
JUAN123456 12y ago
It was written using reactJS!
JUAN123456 12y ago
how this web hide the scripts tags? and how hide the scripts (js) from the resources tab from the rdeveloper tools?
lightonphiri 12y ago
I have been using whatsapp-purple---a WhatsApp protocol implementation of libpurple [1] for some time now and it works really well. That being said, accessing it from within a browser window has it's advantage. I currently have to install whatsapp-purple on all machines I use & syncronising chatlogs via Dropbox has it's challenges... [1] https://github.com/davidgfnet/whatsapp-purple https://github.com/davidgfnet/whatsapp-purple
timlindinct 12y ago
I'd love to see them open source this react material design implementation.

Whatsapp Web

131 points by benjlang 12y ago

quintin 12y ago

I couldn’t figure out a way to install this.

marrone12 12y ago
It looks like it's only on Android/Windows/Blackberry
thomaslutz 12y ago
Install or sign in?
sensecall 12y ago
Looks like it's only compatible with Chrome at the moment, and no iOS support. https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080002 https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080002
jug5 12y ago
It seems you need a version of WhatsApp on your phone that isn't out yet.
- SchizoDuckie 12y ago
  Indeed. Play Store says I have the latest version... anybody have a working apk?
  - dutchbrit 12y ago
    Try the following APK: http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-.. http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-.... (yes, it's not the newest release but they apparently did a rollback after this version removing the web menu item)

thomaslutz 12y ago

Does not work for iOS yet? Edit: "At this time, WhatsApp Web is available only for Android, Windows Phone, Nokia S60, BlackBerry and BB10 smartphones." https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003 https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003

Mikeb85 12y ago
Apple's browser is probably lacking necessary features. They have been much slower adopting features than the competition.
- danielhunt 12y ago
  It's not the browser ... the iOS app doesn't yet have the capability to scan the QR code to link your account to the website
- mattnewton 12y ago
  That doesn't seem likely to me: what features does iOS not have right now, that this is likely to use? It seems more likely if they are targeting chrome only they did it to avoid the support overhead of making it work in multiple browsers.
- wklauss 12y ago
  > They have been much slower adopting features than the competition. It's not a matter of speed. This seems to be using WebRTC for handling communications between the phone app and the browser. Safari has chosen not to implement WebRTC and so far it is still not a proper standard so I can see why. Google, as the developer of WebRTC, will obviously support it right away. Note that no browser other than Chrome can be used as well.
- jamesrom 12y ago
  Wait, you know that WebKit is spearheaded by Apple? And that there's two completely unrelated problems here: 1. The frontend only works on Chrome for desktop (it appears only because it uses the non-standards track filesystem API) 2. The backend service and mobile app does not work with iOS (it appears because it uses background networking) They may seem related, but they aren't.

benjlang 12y ago

Not working for me yet.

cvburgess 12y ago

So what exactly is whatsapp web? [edit] Found the answer at https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003 https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/web/28080003 > WhatsApp Web is a computer based extension of the WhatsApp account on your phone. The messages you send and receive are fully synced between your phone and your computer, and you can see all messages on both devices. Any action you take on the phone will apply to WhatsApp Web and vice versa.

hawkice 12y ago

I'm using Chromium, says it only supports Chrome. Can we shave some characters off the regex here?

bello 12y ago
As a temporary solution, you could spoof the user agent by running chromium from command line: chromium-browser --user-agent="Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686) AppleWebKit/535.2 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/39.0.1132.47 Safari/536.11"

radicalbyte 12y ago

I thought that Whatsapp didn't store (or read) messages, and that was why it was so secure / awesome? So how can they do this?

nichochar 12y ago
You're mistaken, they do store. And don't hide it. Also they don't even encrypt, they send messages over the air in plain text. YAY $16 billion!
- derefr 12y ago
  Didn't WhatsApp integrate TextSecure?
- dethstar 12y ago
  https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- subliminalpanda 12y ago
  Hopefully that will change soon. https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/ https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp/
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  Ugh. This is why I was saying before that I'm quite worried that Whatsapp itself didn't come out and say publicly that it uses TextSecure's end-to-end protocol, and that we should stop praising them for "adopting end-to-end encryption" until they actually say they did (for which I got downvoted).
rdtsc 12y ago
How is dropping a message to someone who is not online or cannot be reached at that instant because of network connectivity awesome?
12y ago

fabrice_d 12y ago

So it seems to do some pairing between your phone and chrome? Not really what I call a web version. A real web version would run on, you know, any reasonably recent web browser.

derefr 12y ago
I think the point of the pairing itself is more just to make sure people only have as many WhatsApp accounts as they have phone numbers. Not sure why it's Chrome only, though.
D_Guidi 12y ago
I suspect that pairing is needed only to not use an account other that phone number

arcticf0x 12y ago

Doesn't work, apparently you need to scan the code from your phone's WhatsApp which you can't due to lack of that functionality.

ramonck 12y ago

Doesn't work for iOS! Better not release it then! :)

Aldo_MX 12y ago
iOS users should already be resigned that they'll always receive updates later
dpacmittal 12y ago
Why not?

therealmarv 12y ago

installed newest Android version. Does not work here. No option for scanning QR

balls187 12y ago
Did you try: Menu -> Whats App Web?
- dpacmittal 12y ago
  There's no option called 'WhatsApp Web". I'm on 2.11.491
  - balls187 12y ago
    My friend said it took a few seconds, then the option appeared. Sorry for the 2nd hand account. I'm on iOS.
KhalilK 12y ago
Same here.

balls187 12y ago

This is sweet. I like being able to chat with my friends while I am at work so I'm glad to see WhatsApp bringing web access. Hopefully iOS support is around the corner, but given how often iOS gets preferential treatment over Android, I'm okay with my Droid friends getting first crack at it.

kylec 12y ago

The title should more correctly say "Whatsapp for Google Chrome". You can't really say it's for "web" if Chrome is the only browser you support.

profmonocle 12y ago
Maybe they're doing client-side encryption in JavaScript? Apparently native JS crypto is incomplete in Firefox: http://caniuse.com/#feat=cryptography http://caniuse.com/#feat=cryptography

adrianlmm 12y ago

Really? http://imagebin.org/328080 http://imagebin.org/328080

handsomeransoms 12y ago
FYI Google Chrome warns that imagebin.com "might contain malware".

ameyjah 12y ago

I like it. This was certainly needed; especially when I am working.

applecore 12y ago

> WhatsApp Web only works in Google Chrome. It's 2015, and we're still using browser compatibility checks.

Animats 12y ago

What did they do in an add-on that won't work in Firefox? Chrome add-ons and Firefox add-ons are rather close; I have one that has about 80% common code.

conqrr 12y ago

This is truly useless, It needs your phone to stay on to access the web version. And why is it a web version if only Google Chrome is supported.

orliesaurus 12y ago

Its awesome, I can save my phone battery by switching it off and leaving only whatsapp on! boom!

conqrr 12y ago
No its not. Your phone needs to stay on the whole time.
- orliesaurus 12y ago
  Damn, you're right! That's a bit of a downer :(
- pycassa 12y ago
  Really.. I use a dumb feature phone and the only thing I want in is whatsapp.. Thought of signing in once with a smart phone and using it forever and continue using my dumb phone..

kiuiras 12y ago

Which version of Android app do you use? 2.11.498 seems don't work for me. There isn't a WhatsappWeb option.

dpacmittal 12y ago
How did you even get 2.11.498 (which seems to be newer than mine but still not latest)? I'm trying to download and all I get is 2.11.491.
- kiuiras 12y ago
  From Play Store. I think version varies with device. On WhatsApp site there's still your version.
  - shubham_mittal 12y ago
    I think that version is for Nexus 5. I can't install 491, and 498 doesn't have the menu option :(
kiwidrew 12y ago
I'm running 2.11.498 (just updated) on my Android phone and the menu option is there. The new web.whatsapp.com just started working for me this morning. (I'm on Chrome OS.)

hugovie 12y ago

I have been waiting for this move for a long time, but, badly, doesn't support iOS yet :-S

Nux 12y ago

They should have waited with the announcement until they got more browsers supported. This is really frustrating.

cpach 12y ago
Sure, but they gotta start somewhere.

dbailey5 12y ago

Pleeeease don't hijack my back button

thinkt4nk 12y ago

Heck of a roll-out, guys. - only works on one browser - requires interop with the mobile app - supporting mobile app version on Android only - supporting mobile app version not universally available on Android, presumably because of Google Play registry population or something.

SifJar 12y ago
Also works with mobile apps for WP, BB and BB10. Only iOS support is missing, really.
- kaishiro 12y ago
  And every single other major browser.

raonyguimaraes 12y ago

This is apparently not available in my country (Brazil) ... Whatsapp version 2.11.476 updated on 16 jan 2015 I guess it's only limited to US and other regions.

dpacmittal 12y ago
Used a US VPN to see whats the latest version and its 2.11.491, which is the same as installed version on mine (India). However, I still don't see the option to scan QR code.
- corin_ 12y ago
  I'm on WP8 which I imagine you probably aren't, so this may not be useful to you, but in case it's relevant across platforms, or in case there are any WP8 readers: a.) I updated when I saw this HN submission, a 17mb update, to version 2.11.634 (it didn't updated automatically, but was available when I checked my app store) b.) Opening whatsapp after the update showed it had updated (I could see some other features that had changed), but I couldn't find the web option. After killing whatsapp and restarting it, it then appeared on a menu where it hadn't been before
  - raonyguimaraes 12y ago
    It's finally working for me, so i guess it will be available worldwide :D

tiffanyh 12y ago

I know everyone is complaining about Chrome only support, but the more important question we should be asking is what technology stack are they using for the web client? It's well documented that Whatsapp is a Erlang shop. Did they stay with using Erlang for the web as well ... or did they switch to another technology like Nodejs, etc?

arianvanp 12y ago
They seem to be using React for the View rendering. Websockets for data. Bluebird for promises. Google's CryptoJS for end-to-end encryption. MomentJS for time formatting. The code seems to be pretty modular There are some nice gems in it like EXIF format decoding etc. This is nice to reverse engineer :)

skynetv2 12y ago

I changed the UA on Frirefox, then whatsapp web started working. Firefix even showed desktop notifications. BTW, you cannot have two web sessions going on at the same time. Once you start a new session on one browser, other detects and prompts "WhatsApp Web is open on another computer or browser. Click “Use Here” to use WhatsApp Web in this window." also, it needs phone to be connected to whatsapp service. So it sync from phone to your browser.

sandy23 12y ago

I dont see whatsapp web on whatsapp menu of my computer.

programmer_dude 12y ago

I had to restart my phone to see the whatsapp web menu option. I am on Android.

corin_ 12y ago

A lot of negativity, but despite its limitations I already love it. (OK love's too much, but it's a big improvement for me at least.) I don't use whatsapp with a huge number of people, but some of them I talk to daily on it. When we're both behind a computer (work hours, sometimes outside them) we'll often move to Skype to be able to type quicker. Skype's pretty horrible on phones (for me and most people I know), so usually prefer whatsapp when not using PCs/laptops. Sure it's not a huge change, but just being able to type quickly when sat at my laptop, and not needing to keep grabbing my phone to see what's been said, is a great change for me. One that I was complaining about just the other day without realising this was around the corner. In case anyone's interested, here's what it looks like for me in Chrome (nothing unexpected really): http://i.imgur.com/90C0v9V.png http://i.imgur.com/90C0v9V.png (Added bonus in the required app upgrade for WP8: message delivery status icons now shown in list of conversation, rather than just once you are inside a conversation - I know this feature was on at least one platform months ago, maybe all others, and it's [very slightly] annoyed me since I moved to Windows)

tracker1 12y ago
Have you considered Google Hangouts? I tend to use that for most of my chatting, so never really "got" whatsapp.
- corin_ 12y ago
  I don't know anyone who uses them - or at least, nobody has ever suggested I use them. And I haven't been interested enough to try myself to consider converting other users. I've got enough communication routes already without adding a new one unless it can either replace one of the current ones (I won't get all my friends who use whatsapp to switch so it won't do that) or I need it to talk to a subset of people I know (not the case currently with hangouts - this was why I started using whatsapp in the first place, though)
- redthrow 12y ago
  Hangouts is pretty good. Now it doesn't require you to have Google+ account, and (unlike Whatsapp) you don't _need_ to use a phone number that's tied to a telco, and it handles multiple accounts pretty well.

Zepplock 12y ago

Back button is not working in Chrome on Mac

Zepplock 12y ago

Back button is not working in Chrome on Mac

Aldo_MX 12y ago

I appreciate most an Open API the same way Telegram[1] does. But at least, this is a -somewhat acceptable- first step. [1] https://core.telegram.org/ https://core.telegram.org/

tracker1 12y ago

While maybe not directly on topic, I've never seen the point of Whatsapp over plain SMS, or for that matter any of the other chat apps that can do way more (Google Hangouts, Skype, etc)... what's the point?

seppo0010 12y ago
In some countries the price per SMS is not null. Also you have received verification. And group messaging with some features that are not available in MMS. Also end to end encryption.

kiwidrew 12y ago

It works quite well. They've done a great job at following Google's "Material Design" prescriptions while -- surprisingly -- not actually using the Polymer framework. First time I've seen that. The app loads some interesting libraries: * CryptoJS 3.1.2 (for AES and HMAC-SHA256) * punycode 2.1.4 * bluebird 2.5.3 * React 0.12.2 (with addons) It's entirely possible that they really are doing end-to-end crypto...

WaterSponge 12y ago
They did this recently: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/11/18/whatsapp_adds_textsecure_end_to_end_encryption_by_partnering_with_open_whisper.html http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/11/18/whatsapp_...

isarang 12y ago

v2.11.498 working

dutchbrit 12y ago

Strange that this isn't on the frontpage, anyhow, for people who can't get it working for Android, try the following APK: http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-2-11-498-apk/ http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/whatsapp-inc/whatsapp/whatsapp-... (yes, it's not the newest release but they did a rollback after this version removing the web menu item). Reboot your phone after installing.

PauloManrique 12y ago

It's 2015, we use multiple devices, phones, tablets, computer, smart TVs, and they still didn't figure that out? Come on, ICQ, Telegram, Groupme, Viber and tons of other apps have multiple clients for multiple devices. Sadly people take too long to change, or else WhatsApp would be dead already.

ravinder 12y ago

To make the 'Whatasapp web' option show on the latest Android version on my phone I had to do this: 1. Back up your data (Whatsapp Menu > Settings > Chat Settings > Backup conversations) 2. Go to 'App Info' for Whatsapp had to 'Clear data' (Settings > Applications > Applications Manager > Whatsapp) 3. Restart phone 4. Access whatsapp -> enter your phone number -> restore from backup 5. The 'Whatsapp Web' should appear under menu now

lpino 12y ago
Worked for me, Android 4.3 + Galaxy S3. Thanks!
achim123 12y ago
yes this works, but will reset all stats :(... i restored my titaium backup... i still missing the Web Entry in menu :(

mkremer90 12y ago

Why does this completely destroy the back button?

praeivis 12y ago

Why it's called web client if: WhatsApp Web only works in Google Chrome and do not work with iOS?

jaseemabid 12y ago

There is a very good criticism here: http://andregarzia.com/posts/en/whatsappdoesntunderstandtheweb http://andregarzia.com/posts/en/whatsappdoesntunderstandthew... and I have to agree to all of it.

andor 12y ago

Can anybody explain how this is supposed to work in combination with the end-to-end encryption that's allegedly implemented in the Android client? I can see all my Android to Android conversations in the Web client.

leet 12y ago

Unfortunately it is not a desktop client and you have to open the browser all the time to open it. Use this to get a desktop client on mac http://lifepluslinux.blogspot.in/2015/01/whatsapp-web-desktop-client-for-mac.html http://lifepluslinux.blogspot.in/2015/01/whatsapp-web-deskto...

JUAN123456 12y ago

It was written using reactJS

JUAN123456 12y ago

It was written using reactJS!

JUAN123456 12y ago

how this web hide the scripts tags? and how hide the scripts (js) from the resources tab from the rdeveloper tools?

lightonphiri 12y ago

I have been using whatsapp-purple---a WhatsApp protocol implementation of libpurple [1] for some time now and it works really well. That being said, accessing it from within a browser window has it's advantage. I currently have to install whatsapp-purple on all machines I use & syncronising chatlogs via Dropbox has it's challenges... [1] https://github.com/davidgfnet/whatsapp-purple https://github.com/davidgfnet/whatsapp-purple

timlindinct 12y ago

I'd love to see them open source this react material design implementation.