WhatsApp for Desktop was just announced yesterday and it is nothing but the WhatsApp Web like feature made into an app. You still need to have your mobile WhatsApp to be active and connected with the desktop app. It isn’t like Telegram where you don’t have to care about the connectivity on the phone, but hey, everyone knows where most of the contacts are – WhatsApp!
Although it is similar to WhatsApp Web, the app functionality gives it a few extra features, and one of them is the keyboard shortcuts. These do come to the rescue if you are using WhatsApp on a regular basis and don’t want to use your mouse for every little to big function.
WhatsApp for Windows PC Keyboard Shortcuts
- Ctrl + N: Start a new chat
- Ctrl + F: Search
- Ctrl + Backspace: Delete chat
- Ctrl + Shift + N: Start new group chat
- Ctrl + Shift + M: Mute Chat
- Ctrl + E: Archive chat
- Ctrl + Shift + U: Change read status
WhatsApp for Mac OS Keyboard Shortcuts
- Command + N: Start a new chat
- Command + F: Search
- Command + Backspace: Delete chat
- Command + Shift + N: Start new group chat
- Command + Shift + M: Mute Chat
- Command + E: Archive chat
- Command + Shift + U: Change read status
So basically, it is only the Control and Command keys that are different between Windows and Mac, but these shortcuts do work well, as expected.
What else can be done in this desktop app? Certainly, you can play around with the settings to tweak how to get notifications and when or how to mute them when not needed.
But is that enough? I am sure each of you might be waiting for WhatsApp to do something similar to Telegram or other alternatives and not keep logins limited to phone numbers. Also, since the app is just new, we might be looking at newer features in the coming days just like how actively we see feature additions and upgrades every few days on the mobile apps.
