Whatsapp webclient-envy has become a thing over the past few months.
Whatsapp webclient-envy: (n) a shallow feeling of discontentment iOS users have felt mostly in the presence of their Android counterparts for getting locked out of the Whatsapp webclient club – the WhatsApp feature that allows users sync their chats to WhatsApp Web and chat via PC browser.
Well, folks, that is now done with. Whatsapp just opened the gates to the fortress of “cooltitude” to iOS users and they can now sync their phones to the web like other normal people out there.
The web client which was rolled out in January initially supported only Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry, with latter release for Nokia S4O and S60 phones; conspicuously leaving out iOS. The company had said then that it couldn’t release iOS support “due to platform limitations”.
Not all iOS users will be able to sync to WhatsApp web just yet though. The company says it’s rolling out gradually to iPhone users in the app’s latest update, according to a TechCrunch report. It also appears that the web client interface update is currently geo-fenced.
While an image from TechCrunch already lists an iOS icon, the interface as the time of this report in West Africa does not have the iOS icon on the list of supported platforms.
iOS and its heavily guarded walled garden has been known to come late to WhatsApp upgrade parties. When the WhatsApp voice call was released back in April, iOS users had to wait another one month to receive the update. WhatsApp as at April had 800 million users and this is latest in the series of updates it has rolled out this year to compete with other top ranking messaging app, including WeChat and Kakaotalk in Asia, who already have desktop support for their apps .
