With over a billion users, WhatsApp is undoubtedly one of the most popular mobile messaging services available today. The Facebook-owned company recently launched dedicated desktop clients for the service. However, the availability is currently limited to Windows and Mac OS.
This means Linux users are currently out of luck, something which, in general, they are already used to. Anyway, if you are on Linux and want to use WhatsApp on your desktop, you are not completely out of options. In this article we will discuss Whatsie a third-party desktop client for WhatsApp.
Whatsie
Brought to life by Romanian developer Alexandru Rosianu, Whatsie is a third-party desktop client for WhatsApp. It claims to offer “everything you love about WhatsApp” including group chats, photo/video sharing, and more. Under the hood Whatsie is basically a wrapper for WhatsApp Web with additional features such as themes and better integration with underlying OS.
“I built Whatsie from the ground up using Electron, the more powerful and battery-efficient alternative to NW.js, so it’s now faster and better than the old app (WhatsApp for Desktop),” the author says on the tool’s official website.
Download and Installation
You can download the Whatsie package that’s suitable for your distro from the tool’s official website. In my case I opted for the “DEB 32-bit” package which resulted in the “whatsie-2014-linux-i386.deb” file being downloaded on my system. Once downloaded, I ran the following command to install the package on my Ubuntu box:
sudo dpkg -i whatsie-2.0.14-linux-i386.deb
Note: you can install it by double-clicking on the .deb file, too.
Once installed, you can launch the app from the Ubuntu Dash
or by running the following command:
whatsie
Setup and Usage
When Whatsie is launched for the first time, it presents you with a QR code and requires you to scan it using the WhatsApp app on your mobile phone.
This you can do by heading to the three-dot “overflow” menu in the mobile app and selecting the “WhatsApp Web” option there.
Once this is done, you’ll see Whatsie loading all your WhatsApp conversations, contacts, and groups in its window.
You can now use the WhatsApp service on your PC. Head to the three-dot “overflow” menu icon located at the top right of the chat window in Whatsie, and click the “Settings” option to manage Whatsie notifications and blocked numbers.
An important thing worth knowing is that Whatsie is a wrapper around WhatsApp Web (this applies for the official WhatsApp desktop client, too) which in turn connects to your phone to sync messages. So keep in mind that even if you are using Whatsie, it will add to your mobile data usage. It’s better to turn on WiFi on your handset.
Conclusion
If you are tired of switching between your Linux PC and phone just because of WhatsApp, Whatsie is the solution that might make things better for you. Not only does it have a minimal and eye-soothing interface, it’s easy to download, install, and use as well. The tool is available for Windows and Mac OS X as well, in case you aren’t impressed with the official offerings and are looking for an alternative.
Subscribe to our newsletter!
Our latest tutorials delivered straight to your inbox
Sign up for all newsletters.
By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy and European users agree to the data transfer policy. We will not share your data and you can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribe
Himanshu Arora
Himanshu Arora is a freelance technical writer by profession but a software programmer and Linux researcher at heart. He covers software tutorials, reviews, tips/tricks, and more. Some of his articles have been featured on IBM developerworks, ComputerWorld, and in Linux Journal.
Comments are closed