WhatsApp’s experiment with “universal” applications for PC has not gone well and, for some time now, native applications have been developed to improve the experience on Windows and Mac. Now, it is the turn of the system from Apple.
So, the application of WhatsApp for macOS It has just advanced in its development phase and it is already available as an open beta, that is, any user can install it now, knowing that it is not yet considered stable and may be susceptible to causing some type of error.
According to WABetaInfo, the new WhatsApp application for macOS has been developed with Mac Catalyst, which would make it easier for the application to arrive in the future, in addition to macOS, to iPadalthough this extreme is not confirmed, and is required to run macOS Big Sur or higher.
This new WhatsApp application for macOS will replace when it reaches its stable version to the current one, developed with Electron technology and called to disappear in favor of the native one, which offers better performance, greater stability and integration with the environment. Basically the same as the new native app for Windows.
Namely, WhatsApp was released on PC first as a web application and from there it made the leap to the desktop through Electron technology, a set of tools based in turn on web technology that facilitates the development of cross-platform applications, with performance penalties or integration, among others.
WhatsApp for macOS | Image: WABetaInfo
However, Electron has been used by developers for many very popular applications today, whose multiplatform existence would have been at least complicated, had they chosen native technologies for each operating system. Examples of successful Electron applications are Visual Studio Code, Discord, Slack and a long etc.
However, Electron has proven not to be the ideal option in all cases and WhatsApp has been a paradigmatic one, since the Electron application that it promulgated for Windows and Mac is nothing else -as is the case with many of the Electron applications on the market- than the encapsulated web application. And not, WhatsApp Web is not going away.
Thus, in Meta they shelved the development of WhatsApp with Electron and if for Windows they chose to develop a native application under the UWP paradigm (which, after all, uses the same background technologies, but another packaging), for Mac they have done the same with native desktop technologies.
Although WhatsApp Web will continue to exist, macOS users will soon have a consistent replacement that they can try now if they wish. More information in this link. Of course, be careful because the installation of this beta version replaces WhatsApp for macOS in Electron.
