Windows users of WhatsApp are seeing a major change — and many are not happy. With the newest push from Meta, WhatsApp’s once native Windows application has been replaced by a “web wrapper.” In practice, that means the desktop app now simply loads the web version of WhatsApp inside a Chromium-based container, rather than running as a true native Windows program.
The difference is already noticeable. Users report that starting the new app eats up hundreds of megabytes of RAM — as much as 300 MB just on launch, rising to 1 GB or more during regular use. Compared to the old version, which often used less than 100 MB even with dozens of chats open, that’s a dramatic jump. The result: the app now feels sluggish. Opening chats, switching between conversations, scrolling, and even simple navigation all suffer from lag and stutter. For many, the flow just isn’t the smooth desktop experience they were used to.
Beyond performance slowdowns, the update also degrades how well WhatsApp integrates with Windows. Some users say notifications are less reliable, window resizing options have changed, and familiar features no longer behave the same — making multitasking or using WhatsApp in a narrow side panel harder than before.
From Meta’s point of view, the move makes sense. Shifting to a single web-based codebase dramatically reduces development overhead and lets the company push updates faster across platforms. But for daily users on Windows PCs, the trade-off is significant: less responsiveness, more memory usage, and a feeling that the desktop version has regressed rather than evolved.
For now, there’s no official rollback or alternative — the update is being rolled out broadly through the Microsoft Store. Users who rely on WhatsApp for work or constant messaging might see their productivity hit unless Meta optimizes performance soon or restores a native Windows version.
