WhatsApp will soon discontinue its old Electron app on macOS

WhatsApp launched a new version of its macOS app last year that was completely rebuilt from the ground up. While users could continue to use the old Electron-based WhatsApp, Meta has now confirmed that it will soon be deprecated and shut down.

WhatsApp users on macOS need to install the new app

As he noticed WABetaInfothose still using the old WhatsApp app for Mac are now receiving a notification that it will no longer be available in 54 days. Meta says users need to download the new version either from the WhatsApp website or the Mac App Store.

“As you can see in the attached screenshot, Electron app users on Mac are now being notified that the app will no longer be available in 54 days. To maintain access to WhatsApp on desktop, we encourage them to switch to the new Catalyst app, which will retain all their chats and contacts,” the report reads.

The new WhatsApp for macOS is built on Catalyst technology, which uses the iPhone app as its base and runs natively on the system. The Electron app, on the other hand, is essentially a web app running on your desktop, meaning it has slower performance and some other limitations.

Some people decided to continue using Electron because the new WhatsApp for macOS was released without some important features. However, over the past year, Meta has been able to bring most of the missing features to the new app.

WhatsApp is available for free on the Mac App Store and requires a Mac with macOS 11 or later. The company is also working on an iPad version, although a release date remains unclear.

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