Desktop WhatsApp is a gamechanger

In your last performance review, your manager made a face. They waited until the end, after all the vaguely encouraging platitudes and then they made a face. It was one of those, “I’m a cool teacher” faces. A sort of smile-grimace. They’re pretending they don’t want to say this, though on some level they do as otherwise they wouldn’t have said it.

“One more thing.” They pause and prepare their face. “Any chance you can use your phone a bit less? Just a bit.” And then they made the face.

You told this story and you did an impression of the face. Your friends sympathised – they are, after all, the reason you’re on WhatsApp all day. And then one of them snorted. “Don’t you use desktop WhatsApp?” this person scoffed. “You can just download it to your work computer and it synchs with your mobile version.”

Desktop WhatsApp is a gamechanger. You can type furiously on desktop WhatsApp all day and no one will know you’re texting. You can have desktop WhatsApp open in a tab all day and stay abreast of all social developments. It’s better than Gchat, because not all your friends have Gchat, and others can’t have their personal Gmail open at work because their company uses it as its email service and toggling between the two is a faff.

Using desktop WhatsApp, you won’t miss important dispatches about the evening’s plans; you won’t have to field an angry call from your mother late on a Friday because you haven’t responded to any of her texts about whether you’re coming home that weekend. Just whack it in the family WhatsApp group and get on with your life.

How do you get it? For iPhone: go on the WhatsApp website, then open WhatsApp on your phone, settings, and then hit WhatsApp web. Scan the code and you’re in. Do the same for an Android, substituting “menu” for “settings”.

You’re. Welcome.