Editor's take: Meta is preparing to deliver a worse WhatsApp experience on Windows 11 by discontinuing investment in its native desktop app. While there's no official confirmation of this move yet, the latest WhatsApp beta makes the situation clear.
The latest WhatsApp Beta introduces an unexpected change for Windows users. The update reportedly discontinues the native UWP app, replacing it with an empty shell built around the Chromium-based Edge browser framework found in recent Windows versions.
WhatsApp launched a native Windows version in 2016, later converting it to use the Universal Windows Platform API with the WinUI framework. This native approach gave the app a performance edge over the web-based version. Now, Meta is returning to WebView2, the Edge framework that wraps apps around the Windows native browser component.
The latest WhatsApp beta essentially behaves like the web.whatsapp.com service, which users access by pairing the mobile app with a desktop browser. By wrapping a bit of web code around the WebView2 component, WhatsApp will consume more RAM and deliver reduced performance compared to previous versions.
Recent tests by Windows Latest show the new beta is consuming around 30 percent more RAM than the existing native (UWP/WebUI) stable version. Like the user-facing Edge browser, Chrome, and other Chromium-based browsers, WebView2 is a native Windows component built on the Chromium layout engine. Many simple Windows apps built around HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other non-native web technologies rely on this component.
Meta's decision to turn back the clock with an inferior messaging experience for billions of PC users may come down to money. Windows Latest speculates that a tech giant pulling in $164.5 billion a year doesn't want to spend a fraction of its vast wealth maintaining two separate codebases for the same app.
Forcing users into a single UI benefits the company, while end users endure a worse experience on PC. Even Meta's documentation says a native WhatsApp app offers better performance, higher reliability, and additional teamworking features – so either the developers neglected to update the docs or they simply don't care how users feel about the UI.
Another possible explanation for this potential WhatsApp fiasco is that Meta's developers are being lazy on some desktop systems, while focusing more on the phone apps, which is exactly what they did with Facebook Messenger. The company has also drug its feet on other platforms. The company released a native iPad version just last month – a mere 15 years after Apple launched its tablet line. This patchy approach leaves PC users stuck with a downgraded experience, raising questions about Meta's commitment to its desktop audience.