WhatsApp is dropping its native Windows app that Microsoft exec called “exemplary modern Windows app”

Meta has quietly rolled back WhatsApp’s native Windows 11 application, replacing it with a Chromium-based web wrapper that sacrifices performance for development convenience. The change, currently available in beta, marks a disappointing retreat from the company’s previous commitment to platform-specific optimization.

The new version essentially packages web.whatsapp.com into a desktop container using Microsoft’s WebView2 technology, creating multiple subprocesses that consume approximately 30% more RAM than the original native app.