# WhatsApp for Windows 10 Hacker News commenters recommended WhatsApp for Windows and 48 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 13 months. **Verdict:** Fans find it faster and more responsive than the web version and handy for attachments; critics say the newer build is a memory-hungry web wrapper. ## Why people recommend it - Faster and more responsive than web (2 comments): "the desktop app is considerably faster and more responsive." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912180)) "The experience of using a native app is far superior." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45911970)) - Native app feels superior to old version (2 comments): "The experience of using a native app is far superior." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45911970)) "the old native windows app was /awful/" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912013)) - Acceptable memory use, lighter than web (2 comments): "Memory, while I feel that a gigabyte is way to much for what is essentially a chat app, it is virtual memory, so it's not as problematic as I'd like it to be." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912149)) "a more lightweight experience at 1/10th the RAM consumption" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912006)) ## What people warn about - Meta shipped low-quality, uncaring software (6 comments): "I don't understand why a company with the size and resources of Meta can't support native versions for Windows, Mac and Linux." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45917110)) "In this case, it's a skill issue to ship low quality software which is what whoever that team at Meta just did" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45920420)) "The real explanation is a level of uncaring incompetence that can only be sustained in large organizations." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45913691)) - Crashes, freezes and lost connections (3 comments): "it's buggy in either release or beta since months as it loses network connectivity after some time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45916151)) "it was silently crashing minimum twice a day every day, and that's under very light use" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912951)) "often freezes while I'm trying to type a message, often losing much of what I type" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50262452)) - Heavy memory and GPU use (3 comments): "Memory, while I feel that a gigabyte is way to much for what is essentially a chat app, it is virtual memory, so it's not as problematic as I'd like it to be." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45912149)) "by the time the resulting GPU worker process balloons up to 400MB, that pretty much goes out of the window" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45911779)) "I’ve has it use 3-4 Gb when I had the channel with cat photos displayed for weeks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45897987)) - Just a web wrapper, no native gain (2 comments): "Visually and functionally there's no difference between opening Whatsapp Web and installing this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46043022)) "I really don't understand why WhatsApp would need app especially with the state mentioned here" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45911383)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Discord](https://hackerapproved.com/p/discord.md): 400 recommend - [Telegram](https://hackerapproved.com/p/telegram.md): 229 recommend - [WeChat](https://hackerapproved.com/p/wechat.md): 14 recommend - [Telegram Desktop](https://hackerapproved.com/p/telegram-desktop.md): 13 recommend - [LINE messaging app](https://hackerapproved.com/p/line.md): 8 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.whatsapp.com/download) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "WhatsApp for Windows", https://hackerapproved.com/p/whatsapp-for-windows/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).