WhatsApp now has a native Windows app that works even if your phone has no internet

WhatsApp, the world’s most popular messaging app, has introduced a new native app for Windows PCs that will work even if your primary phone does not have an active internet connection. The new app can be downloaded directly from the Microsoft Store, and comes as the service has introduced a feature called ‘linked devices’ to help users simultaneously link up to four devices with a primary account.

The new feature right now allows multiple linked devices to work only across phones and PCs, while WhatsApp said that there is a native app in the making for Apple’s macOS platform as well. In future, the company could also offer the ability for users to link their primary WhatsApp account to other phones as well as on tablets.

WhatsApp’s linked devices feature comes as the company ramps up efforts to reduce spam on the platform. The company’s monthly transparency reports published through the past 12 months state that over 24 million users were banned from the service for spam or failing to comply with its policies.

WhatsApp’s linked devices feature, however, does come with a number of limitations. For instance, even with the new native app on Windows, users whose primary WhatsApp account is registered on iPhones would not be able to view live locations shared through chats on any other linked device, and also not be able to generate link previews.

WhatsApp also states that users who are on “very old” versions of the mobile app will not be contacted through linked devices, but does not specify how old these versions have to be.

To be sure, WhatsApp has already had its services available on Windows before the rollout of the native app today. However, the previous apps were web-based services. The Meta-owned service claims that the new Windows app will offer a faster, smoother and more stable usage experience than its previous web app.