Amazingly, on its busiest day, there were over 64 billion messages processed on its servers around the world. Another fantastic fact is that until May 10, 2016, it was impossible to send or receive WhatsApp messages on a Mac or PC — until finally, WhatsApp, realizing it needed to give Mac and PC users what they wanted, released a desktop app. In this article, we explain how you can download and use WhatsApp on your Mac.
How to get WhatsApp on Mac?
WhatsApp released WhatsApp Web in January 2015. This made it possible for Mac and PC users to log in and access messages via Google Chrome, Opera, and Firefox, although Safari and Internet Explorer were not officially supported.
Although the original WhatsApp Web was useful, it operated almost like a workaround and didn't come with as many features. It was possible to send and receive messages, but it wasn't the same as the mobile app. In many ways, it was WhatsApp releasing an MVP or beta for what it would release later in 2016, making it easier to gauge the potential popularity of a more refined version.
After May 2016, this workaround was no longer necessary.
How to download the WhatsApp desktop app on a Mac?
Now, if you want to use WhatsApp on your macOS, you can download it from the Mac App Store or the WhatsApp website. Note that WhatsApp requires macOS 12.1 (Monterey) or later. They've made it as simple as possible to set up and start using. Here's a step-by-step instruction to install WhatsApp on your MacBook:
- Open the App Store on your Mac and search for "WhatsApp," or go to the WhatsApp website to download the Mac version.
- Click Get (App Store) or, if downloading from the website, open the downloaded file and drag the app into the Applications folder.
- Go to Applications and open WhatsApp.
- Follow onscreen instructions to install WhatsApp on your Mac
And you're all ready to roll! If you're a regular WhatsApp user, put the app into Dock and/or Desktop too. Keep it nearby as you will get the same flood of notifications as in the mobile app, except with the extra convenience of being able to respond using your Mac instead of picking up your phone every few minutes.
Everything you do and send and delete on one device, either iOS or Android, is synced in real time with the other, so if you delete a conversation on your phone, it will vanish from your Mac, too.
If you ever want to stop receiving messages on your Mac, simply log out of the desktop version of the app. You can exchange messages on your phone.
How to ensure privacy on WhatsApp Web?
Some users, understandably, want to ensure more privacy when using messenger apps. One way to guarantee that is to use CleanMyMac.
Alongside many other useful tools, CleanMyMac can help you take control of your privacy — its Protection feature carefully removes web history, including cookies, cache, and messaging history. Moreover, it removes unsecured open Wi-Fi networks to prevent your data from being tracked by someone else.
- Start your free CleanMyMac trial — you can test it for 7 days.
- Open the app and go to Protection from the sidebar on the left.
- Click Scan.
- After the scan is done, click Manage Privacy Items > Privacy.
- Sheck the items you want to get rid of and click Remove.
Now, your Mac is a little bit safer than it was before. If you want to clean your Mac of junk and optimize its performance, try the Smart Care feature of CleanMyMac. It can clear gigabytes of junk and save a lot of space on your Mac.
No doubt, WhatsApp offers many benefits to those who love chatting. Using WhatsApp on Mac, you have more freedom as you can type faster and don't need to pick up your phone every time you get a message. Just remember to keep your Mac running smoothly with an app like CleanMyMac.
