14 DAY TRIAL // WhatsApp is currently one of the most popular messaging apps out there, and needless to say, the company is offering its clients on most platforms, including Windows.
The WhatsApp app on Windows, however, has until now used Electron, the technology that Microsoft once insisted on specifically to increase the number of apps published on the Microsoft Store.
And at first glance, this all makes sense, as Electron makes it a lot easier for web apps to be rebuilt as UWP apps and then go live on the Microsoft Store.
On the other hand, long-time Windows users probably know already that Electron isn’t always the best choice for a modern app, as it can lead to all kinds of problems. Skype, for instance, has also used the Electron framework, and the performance has been poor, to say the least.
But WhatsApp has been working on making its Windows client feel at home on the modern versions of Windows for quite some time, and as spotted by Neowin, the latest version of the application benefits from a major update.
UWP now live for all users
This is because WhatsApp is now a UWP app that’s available for everybody – previously, the app carried a beta tag, but it looks like this is no longer the case.
“WhatsApp Desktop users have been using our web-based desktop app (WhatsApp Desktop) or our browser-based app (WhatsApp Web). As we're always trying to improve the WhatsApp experience for our users, we're developing apps native to Windows and Mac operating systems,” WhatsApp says, while also emphasizing that native apps come with increased reliability and speed, are designed and optimized for the desktop, and continue to receive notifications and messages even when the phone is offline.
WhatsApp says it’s also working on a native app for Macs, but for the time being, an ETA as to when it could be shipped isn’t yet available.