WhatsApp, a free online messaging app, was launched in 2009 as an exclusive app for iOS. Subsequently, in 2010, support for Blackberry phones was added and later that same year Android and Symbian operating systems were also brought into the fray. WhatsApp gained such instant popularity that it prompted several other developers to create similar messaging apps such as China’s WeChat and Japan’s Line. However, in simple terms, WhatsApp still remains the big daddy of all the online messaging apps.
With WhatsApp becoming so popular among smartphones users worldwide, even to the extent of it becoming a necessity, it was only the users of Windows phones who had any complaints with WhatsApp and with good reason too. Although WhatsApp developers had made sure that the app would be supported on a windows phone too, somehow, it did not reach the level of smooth launch and fluidity of operations that it had reached on other operating systems. Windows phones run on WhatsApp’s beta version which is riddled with several bugs that prevent users from using WhatsApp as smoothly as other operating systems do. WhatsApp has been coming up with frequent updates to try to fix all the issues, but it still has a long way to go.
Windows phone users also have to face disappointment in face of the fact that while WhatsApp keeps providing updates for its android and iOS users, the number of updates for windows users is significantly less. Besides, the updated features of the beta version are often not reflected in the stable version of WhatsApp. Users also experienced massive time lags between the period when they sent the message and when it was actually delivered and vice versa. Often, then did not receive push notifications for new incoming messages which was a major irritant for users. It was due to these issues probably that WhatsApp was pulled out from the Windows app store and then reintroduced after a few days. Supposedly, most of the bugs in the older WhatsApp were fixed and the newly introduced version was fully compatible with Windows 8.1.
But the WhatsApp compatible with Windows 8.1 comes with a new problem. Users have reported that the app, whether being used or not, is causing a massive drain in the phone’s battery. Users of older versions of windows phones had also complained of high battery consumption by WhatsApp but this problem seems to have become more prominent now.
WhatsApp developers have been quick to respond to the users complaints and have recently come up with another update to the beta version which fixes the battery drain issue to the satisfaction of the users. New settings options have also been added at the bottom of the chat window while also giving the users the option of cropping their personal photos before putting them as their WhatsApp background. Although these new enhancements feature in only the beta version for now, looking at the past record of WhatsApp and the stiff competition it faces from the newly launched messaging apps, one can confidently say that another WhatsApp update is just around the corner.