Popular messaging app WhatsApp, in its latest push for users to "stay in touch anytime and anywhere", has launched a desktop app that links with users' phones so they can send messages from their computers.
"Like WhatsApp Web, our desktop app is simply an extension of your phone: the app mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device," it announced in a blog post on Tuesday (May 10).
WhatsApp Web, the web browser version of the app, was launched last year.
With one billion users as of February, WhatsApp looks set to extend its reach further with the new desktop app, which is available for Windows 8+ and Mac OS 10.9+.
It syncs with a user's mobile app, and as the app runs natively on a user's desktop, there will be support for native desktop notifications and better keyboard shortcuts, such as Ctrl (Command on a Mac) + Shift + M to mute a conversation.
To download the app, visit https://www.whatsapp.com/download from a desktop browser. Then, open the app and scan its QR code using your phone's WhatsApp app.
With this move, WhatsApp is now on par with Facebook's other messaging platform Messenger in having its own native desktop app.
Acquired by Facebook for more than US$19 billion (S$26 billion) in February 2014, WhatsApp also recently rolled out end-to-end encryption on its mobile app to enhance users' privacy.
