Popular Mobile Messaging Service WhatsApp has introduced a new desktop client service option that it is calling WhatsApp Web, which will be accessed through the Google Chrome browser by those using the latest version of WhatsApp.
Access to WhatsApp Web will require users to take a picture of a QR code using their mobile phones for log in, as the messaging services uses the phone number and SMS to verify accounts instead of the common usernames and passwords required for log in.
Also, the new desktop site will be using the phone for more than just the log in process, with messages and conversations remaining live on the device, meaning that if the phone is off, then the WhatsApp Web will also go off.
The desktop version comes with good news to many but brings bad news to iPhone users as devices running iOS are not supported. WhatsApp Web has been designed to be accessed through Android, Windwos Phone, BlackBerry, as well as the Nokia S60 devices.
WhatsApp says there are plans underway to bring the desktop version to iOS users but have not provided a time frame for when to expect it, being that there is the usual challenge of Apple’s platform limitations.
WhatsApp+ Will Now Be History
As the messaging service moves to the web, the colourful alternative of the service called WhatsApp+ has shut down after it received a letter from the official WhatsApp service asking that the third party app stops operations.
WhatsApp Plus, which was built as a third party app from WhatsApp, offers users ways to customize their apps by choosing colours and background images for chat conversations. It also allows users to increase the size limit that is set for attachment of videos and sound files.
The WhatsApp+ service had become popular among users as it provided fun functions that the official WhatsApp did not provide for, but now it seems WhatsApp+ users will have to revert to the boring official service.
“We have received a cease and desist letter from WhatsApp and we are obligated to remove all download links and unfortunately delete this community,” reads a statement from the WhatsApp+ support development community.
“I am really sorry for this but it’s out of our hands and WhatsApp has pushed us into a corner that we can’t escape this time. It was a fun ride but it has come to an end,” said the statement.
Users of WhatsApp+ are now being urged to delete the app and instead install the official app from Google Play store, a move that will also attract a punishment for violation of WhatsApp’s terms and conditions.
The punishment being that even after the installation, users will only be able to use the service after a period 24 hours.
The now Facebook-owned messaging service said the move was influenced by concerns of the probability that the unofficial app would cause the leakage of private data to third-parties. WhatsApp recently announced that is over 700 million users send an average of 30 billion messages in a day.
