The unannounced revamp, spotted by the folks over at Android Police, introduces more functionality to the desktop version, so you’ll be less likely to open the app on your phone if you’re happily dabbling with the service on your PC.
The update means WhatsApp for Web now lets you delete and archive one-on-one chats, and also perform additional commands such as archive group chats, as well as mute or leave them.
It’s also now possible to change your profile photo and status via the Web version – it’s just a matter of hovering over the icons to bring up the edit option.
Lastly, Android Police notes that some keyboard shortcuts have been introduced for various functions, though they don’t appear to be ready just yet as they’re not functioning particularly smoothly at the moment.
It’s great to see the WhatsApp team showing its desktop version some love, though there was still one glaring omission from the update – a rollout for iOS users. That’s right, iPhone-owning desktop users still can’t access the service via the Web “due to platform limitations,” the startup says. There’s no word on whether it’s working on a solution.
Other things to keep in mind – the Web client only works with Google’s Chrome browser, and to to connect the browser to your WhatsApp client you need to scan the QR code that shows on this page. Oh, and your smartphone must stay connected to the Internet for the Web client to work.
Hopefully future updates will smooth out the set-up process and introduce even more features, but at least this recent revamp is taking the software in the right direction.
WhatsApp for Web launched at the start of 2015, six years after it debuted on mobile.
The hugely popular messaging app, which was picked up by Facebook last year for an incredible $19 billion, currently has 800 million users globally.
Despite its massive user base, lack of ads on the service has so far resulted in low revenue. Income for the first six months of last year hit $16 million, which came mainly through subscription payments charged after one year of free use.
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has said he won’t start thinking seriously about monetization options for WhatsApp till its user base tops a billion, which by the looks of things could happen by the end of the year.
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