“Just like WhatsApp Web, the new desktop app lets you message with friends and family while your phone stays in your pocket.”

With more than 1 billion users, WhatsApp just introduced a desktop application, which is simply (and thankfully) an extension of your phone because the app mirrors conversations and messages from your mobile device.

In WhatsApp’s announcement, they said, “The new desktop app is available for Windows 8+ and Mac OS 10.9+ and is synced with WhatsApp on your mobile device. Because the app runs natively on your desktop, you’ll have support for native desktop notifications, better keyboard shortcuts, and more.”

To download the app, visit https://www.whatsapp.com/download from your desktop browser. Open the app and scan the QR code using the WhatsApp app (look for WhatsApp Web menu under Settings).

Facebook owns two messaging juggernauts: Messenger and WhatsApp

If you ask Zuckerberg what he thinks about messaging apps, he would just need to point to the blue and green icons on his phone. That’s because activity on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp (combined) is now three times the global volume of SMS messages, at 60 billion messages a day (via The Verge).

If you think about SMS vs. mobile messaging apps, it’s almost a no brainer from a utility and flexibility perspective. It’s incredibly easy to manage group chats, add multimedia to messages, integrate AI and chatbots, and search for conversations. Try doing that in your mobile device’s native text app, and it’s a difficult task to say the least.

For brands jumping on the mobile messaging trend, we’re still in the early stages. Right now, Messenger and WhatsApp are consumer first, but we’re already starting to see Chatbots and human-assisted AI extensions within each.

Article Written By: Tyler Becker of Social Media Week