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Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

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Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#51

Post by brabel »

1over137 wrote: post #7
dangus wrote: post #2

People use WhatsApp on the computer? From the Windows Store of all places? Must be a tiny percentage, which is why this version is now a basic web wrapper now. Anyway, I’d remind everyone that “using” RAM doesn’t mean “would not function with less RAM.” Many applications just use a lot if it’s available. RAM is not really something you explicitly ration.

> RAM is not really something you explicitly ration. I guess this modern attitude is how we are where we are. RAM is absolutely a scarce precious resource that we optimize for. At least we used to, and some of us still do.

I have 64GB of RAM and between IDE, some Docker containers and a local LLM, that started feeling like too little already. It’s just never enough, we always find creative ways to use every byte that’s available.

Oh and the browser (any browser, I tried many) just takes up 1GB per tab it seems. It’s insane. My old 8GB laptop is nearly unusable now and can barely be used to browse the internet and very little else. I can at least keep coding on emacs. Who would think emacs would one day be an example of a lean app!?

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#52

Post by galad87 »

athanagor2 wrote: post #50

> You’d realise how bad this is when I tell you the benchmarks for the native WhatsApp for comparison. I tested the old/native WhatsApp, and it uses just 190MB most of the time, dropping to less than 100MB when it’s completely idle. At worst, it would reach 300MB, which can happen only when the chat is really active. Well sounds like a lot of useless work was being done then, how does it gobble 100MB when idle? Are t…

web.whatsapp.com is still going to use more RAM than the old native version.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#54

Post by Arainach »

runiq wrote: post #49
brabel wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The desktop app is very good for quickly attaching pictures and documents, or receiving them, I find it harder to do that on the phone app , and a web app just doesn’t work very well when you want it open all the time. Same with Slack, having a desktop app really improves things.

> a web app just doesn’t work very well when you want it open all the time. Pin tab, problem solved?

Now you have to switch apps to the browser, find which browser window has the session you want, switch to the tab, etc., instead of just switching to WhatsApp app via keyboard or taskbar directly.

The ergonomics are significantly worse.

I want most of my browser windows full screen. I don't want my instant messenger full screen. Using it in a browser means I have to have one size, and resizing one changes the other.

The experience of using a native app is far superior.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#55

Post by hoppp »

hliyan wrote: post #48
ZeroConcerns wrote: post #39

Well, the reason for the replacement seems pretty obvious: they're shipping new features on the web that aren't matched by the native client, and apparently that was just too hard to update for a multibillion AI-powered behemoth. So, a wrapper it is! You may not like that from a 'native look and feel' point of view, but the question 'what is a native Windows app these days anyway' is very much unanswerable, and you c…

I've been wondering whether it's time to reserve browsers for their original purpose of reading documents and move web applications to a different paradigm: perhaps native controls/windows rendered and controlled by cross-platform markup served over the web, running on a "headless" sandbox. Perhaps a bit like React Native, but JIT compiled on the client. Not sure if this already exists. I'd really like to have native…

The majority of people use web browsers to run applications because every website nowadays is a huge blob of js.

Maybe what you thinking is a wasm runtime like wasmer.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#56

Post by omnifischer »

runiq wrote: post #49
brabel wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The desktop app is very good for quickly attaching pictures and documents, or receiving them, I find it harder to do that on the phone app , and a web app just doesn’t work very well when you want it open all the time. Same with Slack, having a desktop app really improves things.

> a web app just doesn’t work very well when you want it open all the time. Pin tab, problem solved?

No. People are stupid. They love when taskbar (rightbottom) is flooded with icons and constantly blink to disturb when using device while sucking tons of CPU/memory.

/s

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#57

Post by mrweasel »

happymellon wrote: post #38
rock_artist wrote: post #18

I use WhatsApp web and avoided the apps on desktop. Yet, I really don't understand why WhatsApp would need app especially with the state mentioned here (which is a basic wrapper) There are no calls in the web app, but modern web stack is more than enough to provide all the real functionality needed for it.

Indeed, the desktop app provides absolutely nothing. If it allowed me to do video calls from a laptop, that could be useful but obviously that can't be a feature they therefore offer.

Apparently what it provided was a more lightweight experience at 1/10th the RAM consumption.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#59

Post by pta2002 »

I do want to point out, as someone who uses the WhatsApp app (to me, it’s slightly more convenient than the web version) that the old native windows app was /awful/. It looked native enough, but it just didn’t work. For as long as I remember it would randomly stop accepting input into the text field and I’d have to restart the app, and this was insanely frequent. Typing dead keys was also randomly broken with accents not coming through, which is really annoying if you’re trying to sound professional on a language that requires them.

The new electron app does take more resources, but at the very least it works.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#60

Post by rkomorn »

Arainach wrote: post #54
runiq wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a web app just doesn’t work very well when you want it open all the time. Pin tab, problem solved?

Now you have to switch apps to the browser, find which browser window has the session you want, switch to the tab, etc., instead of just switching to WhatsApp app via keyboard or taskbar directly. The ergonomics are significantly worse. I want most of my browser windows full screen. I don't want my instant messenger full screen. Using it in a browser means I have to have one size, and resizing one changes the other.…

I use the WhatsApp Web PWA and it allows me to have a dedicated window/app for it?

Sure it's a little quirky at times (eg it closes if the browser restarts for update) and it doesn't have a system tray icon, but aside from that, it behaves like a separate app.

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