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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

#161

Post by mgaunard »

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…

The native client had features the web one didn't have, like video calls, so it was actually the one leading features-wise.

I guess it's because they decided to make the web client first-class, and instead of maintaining a native client for each platform (windows, mac, linux...) they opted to just serialize all non-mobile uses (which probably aren't that important to them to begin with) to web.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#162

Post by psychoslave »

23434dsf wrote: post #61
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…

There is a reason they became a multibillion AI-powered behemoth

Do you mean, USA Military–industrial complex?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_co...

https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2025/number/2/ar...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/mark-zuckerberg-jo...

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#163

Post by squarefoot »

conradludgate wrote: post #44
squarefoot wrote: post #36

Electron again? If they really can't develop a native interface, could they alt least consider Tauri?

It isn't electron. It's WebView2 which is also what tauri would be using on windows

Thanks for the correction. Then wondering even more where all those wasted resources go.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#164

Post by Ntrails »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #143
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 just don't get it. Well ok, I kinda get it. I get the feeling nobody wants to build native apps anymore, or they don't or can't advocate for it strongly enough, or those advocates aren't in a position where they can make decisions. And from a manager's point of view it seems wasteful to develop the same feature across multiple platforms. And if you look at the numbers it does, but numbers-driven development has bee…

I occasionally use whatsapp or discord webapps, but won't install the apps. I don't know for sure which sandboxes the processes more effectively, but I kinda assume the browser is my better bet for protecting myself from crap.

Happy to learn otherwise, but might be a datapoint on user behaviour (which could also drive corporate choices).

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#165

Post by andai »

They can't afford to make a native one, huh?

You know I heard something funny the other day, someone saying that now thanks to Claude Code, companies might go back to doing actual native support because the specialized knowledge and effort have both been basically automated now.

Well, give it a few years!

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#166

Post by cm2187 »

pta2002 wrote: post #59

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…

I see the same bugs. It looks like after ICQ, writing a chat app has become an impossible computer science problem (skype, teams, whatsapp,…). How did that ancient civilisation from the 90s managed to build a functional chat app? The know how is lost to times.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#167

Post by skydhash »

brap wrote: post #92
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…

Yeah, I kinda agree with that reluctantly. As much as I like super snappy and efficient native apps, we just gotta accept that no sane company is going to invest significant resources in something that isn’t used 99%+ of the time. WhatsApp (and the world) is almost exclusively mobile + web. So it’s either feature lag, or something like this. And these days most users won’t even feel the 1GB waste. I think we’re not f…

Do you think most people have 128GB laptop? It’s more likely to be 8 or 16 GB. The OS os likely taking 4 or more, the browser two or more. And if you add any office applications, that’s another few GB gone. Then how many Electron monstrosities you think the user can add on top of that?

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#168

Post by naIak »

plotti wrote: post #10

It's a piece of shit and they know they can get away with it. Omg why are there no open protocols on Instant messengIng like email. Europe should enforce it.

Europe has already forced meta to make WhatsApp open. It’s just that no other app has expressed any interest in interoperating for obvious reasons.

Re: Meta replaces WhatsApp for Windows with web wrapper

#169

Post by wodenokoto »

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…

Mozilla did that for a while, but ended up giving up on it, and spend 5 years pulling the UI markup out of their code and engine.
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