The WhatsApp It said Working on a new universal app for macOS and iPadOS since last year. Now it seems that this app is finally nearing the official launch as WhatsApp has just released a beta version of the new macOS app built on Catalyst technology.
Mac users can now access WhatsApp through the macOS app. However, this app is entirely based on WhatsApp Web and relies on the Electron framework. As a result, the current WhatsApp for Mac is very slow and uses more resources in terms of CPU and memory.
Thanks to Catalyst technology, which allows developers to bring iOS apps to macOS, WhatsApp now has a native version of its app for Mac users that is faster and runs smoothly on Intel and Apple Silicon Mac devices. As noted before WABetaInfoThe new app looks completely different from WhatsApp Desktop, as it is based on WhatsApp for iPhone (and the upcoming iPad version).
9to5Mac Was able to try out the new WhatsApp beta app for macOS. The new sidebar allows users to access the same tabs available in the iOS app, namely: Chats, Calls, Archived, Starred, and Settings. Other than that, the app works just as you would expect.
There are some features that still don’t work properly like status, conference calls, location sharing, and voice messages. Of course, since this is a very early beta, these features will likely be implemented in future updates. When it comes to sending and receiving messages and regular calls, everything works fine – and the app is definitely faster than the Electron version.
It should be noted that the new WhatsApp for macOS is not a standalone WhatsApp client. Instead, it still requires you to link your iPhone or other smartphone to your WhatsApp account.
Availability of WhatsApp Beta
Those who want to try the new beta version of WhatsApp for Mac can do so Sign up for TestFlight. Keep in mind that the slots are limited, so you may not be able to download the new WhatsApp beta app for macOS. There are no details on when the app will be officially available to users.
WhatsApp also has plans to release an iPad version (and now that’s completely possible with the release of Catalyst), but at this point, the beta app for iPadOS hasn’t been released yet.
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