It’s been a few years since WhatsApp made the leap from mobile to PC, through the PC application and the web version, WhatsApp Web. WhatsApp Web allows you continue your WhatsApp conversations from a PC browser, without installing anything, although the experience is not exactly the same as when you use WhatsApp on your mobile.
WhatsApp Web is a good tool to keep an eye on your WhatsApp without having to lift your mobile and with the comfort of being able to type with a traditional keyboard, although it still cannot do the same as WhatsApp on an Android mobile or iPhone. Here we will tell you the differences between WhatsApp Web compared to the mobile app.
WhatsApp Web vs WhatsApp on mobile
It all starts with scanning a QR code First of all, it is necessary to emphasize the main difference between WhatsApp Web and the mobile version, and that is that the web version cannot work independently, at least for now. It is an application that synchronizes with the mobile in real time, so that to use WhatsApp on the web you need to keep the mobile on and connected to the network. If you turn off your mobile, you run out of WhatsApp Web.
This is the main difference between both versions of WhatsApp, although if we discard the obvious that WhatsApp on the web has a larger surface than on the mobile screen, the experience in WhatsApp Web is very similar to that of the WhatsApp application. This is, except for a few functions that are not available, for various reasons.
What can be done on WhatsApp Web
Let’s start first with what can be done on WhatsApp Web, which is quite broad. WhatsApp Web is quite functional, to the point that at first it is difficult for you to realize that something is missing with respect to the normal application. This is because all the basics are, and the differences are found when leaving the jack-horse-king of instant messaging.
That is, you can see your list of chats, check everything that is sent in them – photos, videos and stickers included – and respond by sending your own stickers, photos and videos, in addition to start new conversations and groups. Beyond chats, it is possible create Messenger rooms, as well as check the WhatsApp stories they have shared.
WhatsApp Web includes up to some degree of customization, allowing you to toggle between light or dark theme or choose from several background colors for chats. From the settings you can also manage the contacts that you have blocked in WhatsApp. This is what you can do in WhatsApp Web, which you can also do in the WhatsApp application:
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See your list of chats and groups, just like on mobile
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Consult your chats, with their photos, videos, emojis, stickers, voice notes and other elements
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Create new chats and groups
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Create Messenger rooms for group video calls
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Reply to chats with messages
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Send voice notes
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Send emojis, animated GIFs and stickers
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Send contacts
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Send documents
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Take photos with the PC camera (or webcam)
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Send photos or videos
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Receive notifications when new messages arrive
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Star messages and check starred messages
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Modify the configuration of a group of which you are an administrator
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View the profile of a user and group
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Manage chats (archive, silence notifications, leave group, pin, mark as read …)
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Search messages
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Modify your user profile by changing the photo, name and info
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See the WhatsApp statuses of your contacts (or your own, that you have created with your mobile)
What cannot be done on WhatsApp Web
As we have seen before, WhatsApp Web allows you to perform all the basic communication actions, although the difference is in the details, such as in the number of elements that can be sent to a chat (the location cannot be sent, for example) or in the lack of some additional functions, such as video calls or state creation. At least for now, because in theory calls and video calls will be added soon.
For now, WhatsApp Web does not allow making calls or video calls Usually, WhatsApp Web has a simplified version of most of the functions and options present in the mobile application. For example, you can send photos, but not add effects, crop or rotate them, and you can configure the web version of WhatsApp, but you do not have access to any of the privacy or security options, which are exclusively in the application.
Although it is foreseeable that over time WhatsApp will increase the functions of the web version, to this day there are still many things that can be done in the WhatsApp app, but not in WhatsApp Web. They are as follows:
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Calls and video calls
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Edit or add filters to photos or videos before sending them
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Share location (static or real time)
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Share audio
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Create states
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Change account, privacy or security settings
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Add contacts
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Create broadcast messages
WhatsApp vs WhatsApp Web: differences
In short, WhatsApp Web and the official mobile application share the core of functions with a few exceptions, but nuances and additional options are often lost. Here you have one table with the main differences between these two versions of WhatsApp.
|
Function |
|
WhatsApp Web |
|---|---|---|
|
Send messages |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send pictures |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Add filters to photos |
Yes |
No |
|
Add comments to photos |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send multiple photos at once |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send photos with the camera |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send videos |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Share documents |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Share contacts |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Share location |
Yes |
No |
|
Share audio |
Yes |
No |
|
Send emojis |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send GIFs |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send Stickers |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Send voice messages |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Voice calls |
Yes |
No |
|
Video calls |
Yes |
No |
|
View statuses |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Create states |
Yes |
No |
|
Search conversations and contacts |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Search within a conversation |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Edit your profile |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Empty conversation |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Set conversation |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Archive conversations |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Mute conversation |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Mark as unread |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Set privacy |
Yes |
No |
|
Configure security |
Yes |
No |
|
Set number change |
Yes |
No |
|
Configure notifications |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Set Wallpaper |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Configure blocked |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Configure automatic download |
Yes |
No |
|
Check data usage |
Yes |
No |
|
Add contact |
Yes |
No |
|
Create group |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Create broadcast |
Yes |
No |
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The news
WhatsApp Web vs WhatsApp on mobile: how are they alike and how are they different
was originally published in
Xataka Android
by
Ivan Ramirez
.
