Earlier today, WhatsApp announced a web version of their client, dubbed WhatsApp Web, allowing its users to chat with their friends and relatives right from the comfort of their PC. However, the process to use WhatsApp Web on your PC is not as seamless as using Hangouts or iMessage on your PC. 

There is a small setup process that you must follow and keep certain things in mind before you can use WhatsApp Web.

Prerequisites

• Your mobile device must be connected to the Internet and the WhatsApp app should be installed on it for WhatsApp Web to work.
• WhatsApp Web is only available to Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Nokia’s S60 users. iOS users are, sadly, out of luck here because of the platform restrictions imposted by Apple.
• You will need to update your WhatsApp Android client to the very latest version (2.11.498 or higher) for the WhatsApp Web feature to be available to you. In case you are already on version .498, Force Stopping the app and restart WhatsApp might enable the feature.
• WhatsApp says that the web version of WhatsApp is only compatible with Google Chrome.

How to enable WhatsApp Web on your PC

Step 1: On your PC, head over to WhatsApp Web’s website: http://web.whatsapp.com. You will need to use this same website whenever you want to access WhatsApp Web on your PC, so make sure to bookmark this link.

Step 2: On your Android device, open WhatsApp, tap the 3-dot overflow menu button on the top-right corner followed by the ‘WhatsApp Web’ option.

Step 3: Now point your Android to the QR code being displayed on the WhatsApp Web page on your PC. Once the code is scanned and verified, WhatsApp Web will automatically start mirroring all your conversations from your phone to your PC. You can also start new conversations with your friends but that’s about it.

WhatsApp Web also takes advantage of Chrome’s built-in notification system to notify you of new messages. However, make sure to enable the feature from the WhatsApp Web settings page on your browser.

While you can use WhatsApp Web from multiple PCs, only one instance of the site can be active at any given time. Also, WhatsApp Web only “mirrors” your messages from your device, so if your device loses access to an active internet connection, WhatsApp Web will not be able to send your messages to its recipient.