Switching to WhatsApp: Who needs to change the app now

• WhatsApp provides two apps for the Mac. That’s about to change.
• At the end of October, the messenger will discontinue the old Electron app and replace it with the new Catalyst app.
• Users of the Electron app are now allowed to switch. The new app is supposed to work much faster, but does not yet offer all the features of the old app.

If you want to use WhatsApp on your computer, you have several options. You can access the messenger via your browser or use the provider’s app on Windows and Mac. There are currently two of these on the Mac – one of which will soon be discontinued, reports the fan blog WABetaInfo.

This is the older so-called Electron app. Electron is a development environment that allows apps to be made available quickly for different platforms. The disadvantage: these apps are not optimized as much for the respective system, which can have an impact on speed, among other things.

Electron app for Mac about to be discontinued

WhatsApp has therefore developed a native Mac app using the Catalyst software provided by Apple. This is now intended to replace the old Electron app. Anyone who uses this will now see a message when starting the application that the app will soon be discontinued. A counter shows you how many days are left until the end of the app – currently there are 54.

It might be worth waiting a little longer before switching, because according to WABetaInfo, the new Catalyst app works faster and more reliably than the Electron version, but does not yet have all the features. For example, the messenger’s community area is currently missing. It can be assumed that WhatsApp will fix these differences in the next few weeks.

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