WhatsApp for Windows and Mac are extensions of the WhatsApp account on your phone. The messages you send and receive are synced between your phone and computer, and you can see your messages across all devices. Download and install WhatsApp on your computer and you'll also be able to make voice and video calls, and share files with your contacts from your PC and Mac.
Can I use WhatsApp on my computer and phone at the same time?
Yes, WhatsApp web and desktop applications are extensions of the WhatsApp account on your phone. The messages you send and receive are synced, and you can see your messages on all devices seamlessly. You can use up to four linked devices and one phone at a time.
What happens if my phone is offline?
You only need your phone to be online when you register WhatsApp for the first time or pair new devices. After signing up, your phone doesn't need to stay online to use WhatsApp on linked devices, but your linked devices will go offline if you don't use your phone for more than 14 days.
Why use WhatsApp on PC/Mac?
Using WhatsApp on a desktop computer is useful for a variety of reasons. The ability to have a larger screen for messaging, the ability to multitask while still being able to message on WhatsApp, and the ability to send and receive messages even when your phone is not nearby are some of the key benefits. Additionally, it can be more convenient to type on a physical keyboard rather than a small touch screen.
Can I make video calls using WhatsApp Desktop?
Yes, you can make free voice and video calls on WhatsApp desktop using your laptop/PC webcam.
Is WhatsApp secure?
WhatsApp offers end-to-end encryption as a default for all private communication, this includes messages and calls, group and one-on-one chats as well as any photos or files you send.
However, WhatsApp is owned by Facebook which makes many wonder about privacy. More security-conscious users often prefer to use Signal or Telegram for sharing personal or sensitive information.
You can use up to four linked devices and one phone at a time. Each linked device connects to WhatsApp independently while maintaining the same level of privacy and security through end-to-end encryption.
Your phone doesn't need to stay online to use WhatsApp on linked devices, but your linked devices will be logged out if you don't use your phone for over 14 days.
WhatsApp is available for Android and iPhone / iOS.
Features
Keep the Conversation Going
- With WhatsApp Desktop, you can seamlessly sync all of your chats to your computer so that you can chat on whatever device is most convenient for you.
Security by Default
- Some of your most personal moments are shared on WhatsApp, which is why we built end-to-end encryption into the latest versions of our app. When end-to-end encrypted, your messages and calls are secured so only you and the person you're communicating with can read or listen to them, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp.
Desktop calling
- You can make free voice and video calls to your contacts on WhatsApp Desktop if you have the app installed on your computer.
What's New
- Windows updated to 2.2523.1.0
- macOS version updated to 2.25.18.85
- macOS beta version updated to 2.25.19.79
Introducing Advanced Chat Privacy: Enhanced Protection for Your Most Sensitive Conversations
The foundation of privacy on WhatsApp is that your personal messages and calls are protected by end-to-end encryption so that only the sender and recipient can see, listen to or share them. From there, we've built multiple layers of privacy, like disappearing messages and chat lock, that take privacy one step further.
Today we're introducing our latest layer for privacy called "Advanced Chat Privacy." This new setting available in both chats and groups helps prevent others from taking content outside of WhatsApp for when you may want extra privacy.
When the setting is on, you can block others from exporting chats, auto-downloading media to their phone, and using messages for AI features. That way everyone in the chat has greater confidence that no one can take what is being said outside the chat.
WhatsApp groups are increasingly an extension of our real world networks, some of which are far closer than others. We think this feature is best used when talking with groups where you may not know everyone closely but are nevertheless sensitive in nature, like talking about health challenges in a support group or organizing your community about something important to you.
You can turn this on by tapping the chat name, then tapping on Advanced Chat Privacy. This is the first version of this feature and we're planning to add more to it so that it will eventually include even more protections.
This new setting is rolling out to everyone on the latest version of WhatsApp.
Turn Up the Volume: Add Music to Your WhatsApp Status
WhatsApp Status has always been a way to share life's moments with friends and family – but what's a moment without the perfect soundtrack? Now, you can do exactly that by adding music to your Status updates.
When creating a Status, you'll now see a music note icon at the top of your screen. Tap it, and you'll unlock a library of songs to pick from – whether it's today's top hits, something new, or the earworm that's stuck in your head. Choose the exact part of the song that fits your moment – up to 15 seconds for a photo and up to 60 seconds for a video.
Our library has millions of songs to choose from. Your Status is end-to-end encrypted so WhatsApp can't see what you share, and we don't know which songs you add to your Status.
We're rolling this out globally and expanding over the next few weeks. Get ready to drop the beat, one update at a time.
Chat themes to reflect your style
You asked for it. Here it is! We're introducing chat themes, so you can make your chats uniquely yours with colorful chat bubbles and new wallpapers.
Chat themes: Turn your chat bubbles and background your favorite colors, with plenty of options to choose from. Pick from one of our pre-set chat themes which change both your background and bubbles, or mix and match colors to best fit your style.
New wallpapers: Add some fun to your chats by choosing from 30 new wallpaper options, or you can still upload a background from your camera roll to make them completely unique to you.
You can apply the same theme to all your chats, or make each one extra special with different themes. Either way, your chat themes are only visible to you. You can also change the theme of your channels.
To change the theme of all your chats and channels, go to Settings > Chats > Default chat theme. To customize each chat individually, click the chat name at the top of the chat screen (on iOS), or click the 3-dot menu (on Android) > Chat theme.
These features are now starting to roll out, and will be available globally over the coming weeks.
Improved calling on WhatsApp
Calling on WhatsApp continues to grow in popularity around the world. Now, over 2 billion calls are made on WhatsApp every single day. Ahead of the holiday season, we're introducing new calling features across desktop and mobile, so that connecting with your loved ones is easier than ever.
Select call participants: Now when you start a call from a group chat, you can select specific participants, so you call exactly who you want without disrupting the rest. Ideal for planning surprise parties or presents.
New effects for video calls: Choose between ten effects that transform your video calls into even more fun conversations, from adding puppy ears, to taking you underwater, or handing you a microphone for karaoke.
Improved calling on desktop: Now when you click the calls tab on the WhatsApp desktop app, you'll easily find everything you need to start a call, create a call link, or dial a number directly.
Better quality video calls: Whether you're calling from desktop or mobile, calls are now more reliable, and you can enjoy higher resolution video with a clearer picture on both 1:1 and group calls.
Meta AI on WhatsApp - Now Multilingual, More Creative and Smarter
As Meta AI continues to improve with new useful features and languages, we're excited to bring this helpful and creative assistant to more countries starting today.
Continued International Expansion
Meta AI can help you with answers, ideas and inspiration. It's now available in 22 countries, with the newest additions rolling out now including Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Cameroon in several new languages including French, German, Hindi, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish with more to come.
Imagine Edit
We are also making it easier to create your ideal image with Meta AI by making it possible to easily change and edit an image, including adding or removing objects within it. To start, type "imagine" to describe your image and then respond to what Meta AI provides by asking it to add, subtract, or animate the image to your liking. Imagine Edit is available in English at first, with more languages coming soon.
Imagine Yourself
If you've ever wondered what you might look like as a superhero, or wanted to try out different hair or outfits - you can now imagine yourself doing just about anything. Simply type "Imagine me" in chats with Meta AI to get started. After a quick set up, you'll be able to add a prompt like "Imagine me in a retro pink and green ski outfit" and Meta AI will generate an image of you in that personalized scene. You can reset or delete your setup photos at any time. This is available in beta in the U.S. for now, with more languages and countries coming soon.
We are excited to continue to share new capabilities and advancements from Meta AI with more and more people on WhatsApp. As always, your personal messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted, meaning not even WhatsApp or Meta can see or listen to them. The team is working on improving responses to Meta AI rapidly and introduces improvements every two weeks. We would love to hear from you, and see how Meta AI has helped you be more creative and expressive. Tag us on Threads and share what you've imagined.
Choose your favorites on WhatsApp
Focusing on your favorites just got a lot easier on WhatsApp. Starting today, you can quickly find the people and groups that matter most at the top of your calls tab and as a filter for your chats.
Whether it's your family group chat or your best friend, your 'favorites' will be the same across your chats and calls, so you can speed dial them from your calls tab too.
To add to your 'favorites':
- From your chats screen, select the 'favorites' filter, and select your contacts or groups there.
- From the calls tab, tap 'Add favorite' and select your contacts or groups.
- Or, simply manage your 'favorites' in your settings by going to Settings > Favorites > Add to Favorites, and you can reorder them at any time.
We're rolling out to users today, and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.
Better calling across desktop and mobile
Since we brought Calling to WhatsApp back in 2015, we've continued to improve it with the introduction of group calls, video calls, and multi-platform support.
Today we have several updates that will make calls across your devices even bigger and better, rolling out over the next few weeks:
- Screen sharing with audio: Ideal for watching videos together, now when you share your screen, you can share your audio too
- More participants: Now you can have up to 32 people on a video call across all your devices
- Speaker spotlight: Easily see who's talking with the speaker automatically highlighted and appearing first on screen
We also remain relentlessly focused on audio and video quality, for clearer calls no matter where you are. We recently launched MLow codec which improves call reliability. Calls made on mobile devices benefit from improved noise and echo cancellation, making it easier to have calls in noisy environments, and video calls have higher resolution for those with faster connections. Audio is crisper overall, even if you have poor network connectivity or are using an older device. You can read more about the MLow codec and listen to the difference in audio quality here.
We'll continue making improvements to calling on WhatsApp so you can make the best quality, private calls wherever you are in the world.
Previous Release Notes:
- Moments happen fast, share them faster with video notes.
Voice messages just got more private
We introduced View Once for photos and videos back in 2021 to add another layer of privacy to your messages. Today, we're excited to announce you can now send a voice message that will disappear once listened to.
For reading out your credit card details to a friend, or when you're planning a surprise, you can now also share sensitive information over voice message with added peace of mind. For consistency with View Once photos and videos, View Once voice messages are clearly marked with the "one-time" icon and can only be played one time.
As with all your personal messages, WhatsApp protects your voice messages with end-to-end encryption by default, and View Once is just another example of our continued privacy innovation.
View Once voice messages are rolling out globally over the coming days, and we look forward to your feedback. See more information on how they work here.
Multiple Accounts Coming to WhatsApp
What's better than having a WhatsApp account? Well, of course it's having two.
Today, we're introducing the ability to have two WhatsApp accounts on Android logged in at the same time. Helpful for switching between accounts – such as your work and personal – now you no longer need to log out each time, carry two phones or worry about messaging from the wrong place.
To set up a second account, you will need a second phone number and SIM card, or a phone that accepts multi-SIM or eSIM. Simply open your WhatsApp settings, click on the arrow next to your name, and click "Add account". You can control your privacy and notification settings on each account.
As a reminder, only use the official WhatsApp and don't download imitations or fake versions as a way of getting more accounts on your phone. Your messages are only secure and private when using the official WhatsApp.
How to lock chats in WhatsApp
On Android and iPhone, you can turn on the chat lock feature to password protect your most personal chats. In order to read or send messages, you'll need to unlock your chats using device authentication, such as your phone passcode, Face ID or fingerprint. These chats will be kept separate from your other chats in a Locked chats folder.
- When chats are locked, the notification content and contact are hidden. The notification will show as WhatsApp: 1 new message.
- To help keep media private, you'll have to turn chat lock off to save media to your phone's gallery.
- Group chats and muted chats can also be locked.
- Calls won't be locked. A call from a locked chat contact or group will still appear.
- When you turn on chat lock from your phone, it will lock chats on that phone only. If you have other devices linked to WhatsApp, such as a desktop computer, the chats on those linked devices won't be locked.
- If you use the backup and restore feature on WhatsApp, your locked chats will still be locked once you restore to a new phone. To access your locked chats you will need to have device authentication (fingerprint or Face ID) set up first.
- When you turn on chat lock, the person you're chatting with won't know you've locked the chat.
- If you want to lock an archived chat, you'll need to unarchive it first, then lock it.
Turn on chat lock
You can turn chat lock off or on within the chat's info for each chat you want to lock. If you don't have your device authentication set up yet, such as your phone passcode, fingerprint or Face ID, you'll be prompted to set it up before locking a chat.
How to turn on chat lock:
- Tap chat info > Chat lock.
- Tap Lock this chat with fingerprint or Lock This Chat with Face ID.
- Tap View to see the chat in the Locked chats folder.
View your locked chats
You can view your locked chats in the Locked chats folder.
How to view your locked chats:
- Go to the Chats tab and swipe down.
- Tap the Locked chats folder.
- Confirm your Face ID or touch the fingerprint sensor to unlock.
- Tap the chat to view or send a message.
Turn off chat lock
You can turn off chat lock in the chat's info.
How to turn off chat lock:
- Tap chat info > Chat lock.
- Toggle off and confirm your fingerprint or Face ID.
How to edit messages in WhatsApp
You can edit any message up to 15 minutes after sending, and it'll update for everyone in the chat. Edited messages will have the word "edited" next to the timestamp.
If you aren't on the latest version of WhatsApp you'll see, "This message was edited for everyone in this chat on the latest version of WhatsApp." Update your app to see edited messages.
- Select a message
- Then click Menu (three dots) > Edit message.
- Edit your message.
- Click the checkmark when you're finished with your update.
Note:
- There is a 15 minute time limit for editing messages.
- Editing a message won't send a new chat notification to people in your chat.
- You can't edit photos, videos, or other types of media.
You can edit any message up to 15 minutes after sending, and it'll update for everyone in the chat. Edited messages will have the word "edited" next to the timestamp.
If you aren't on the latest version of WhatsApp you'll see, "This message was edited for everyone in this chat on the latest version of WhatsApp." Update your app to see edited messages.
- Select a message
- Then click Menu (three dots) > Edit message.
- Edit your message.
- Click the checkmark when you're finished with your update.
Note:
- There is a 15 minute time limit for editing messages.
- Editing a message won't send a new chat notification to people in your chat.
- You can't edit photos, videos, or other types of media.
