Whatsapp now available in your web browser

Users can now access their messages on their desktop via Google's Chrome browser

Arguably the world’s largest messaging app with 500 million users, Whatsapp, on Wednesday announced that users can now access their messages on their desktop computers through a web browser.

In a blog post on their site, the company which was acquired by Facebook for $22 billion last year, the popular smartphone messaging app said that users can now see and send messages from their computers (and through the luxury of a full sized keyboard instead a crammed phone keyboard).

For now, the company has introduced a web application which works through Google’s Chrome browser. This is unlike similar messaging apps such as Viber or Line which have standalone desktop applications.

Whatsapp further said that the web browser application will mirror a user’s conversations and messages already on their mobile, meaning that messages will still live on the phone. For the web functionality to work, however, a user’s phone would need to remain connected to the Internet.

While the application can be accessed here, those on Apple’s iOS will not be able to avail this service due to limitations of Apple’s platform.