A desktop WhatsApp for Mac that shares one window with your work

Desktop WhatsApp for Mac is a free, official app from WhatsApp that runs on macOS 12.1 or newer and works as a linked device of the account on your phone. You download it from WhatsApp's site or the Mac App Store, scan a QR code with your phone, and your chats appear on the Mac. It handles messages, voice and video calls with up to 32 people, and screen sharing. What it does not do is hold a second WhatsApp account, and it has a few rules about your phone that surprise people a week or two later. This guide covers the install, the linking steps, the limits WhatsApp publishes, the choice between the app and WhatsApp Web, and how to keep WhatsApp next to the rest of your work without it taking over the screen.

What the official Mac app is and what it needs

The facts below come from WhatsApp's own pages, checked on October 18, 2026.

WhatsApp's download page lists a Mac app for calling, screen sharing and a faster experience, and states the requirement as macOS 12.1 or newer. The App Store listing shows the same requirement under Compatibility for Mac, lists the seller as WhatsApp Inc., the price as free with in-app purchases, and the size as 402.2 MB. The App Store version is a single listing shared with iPhone and iPad, so the Mac app may show up under the name WhatsApp Messenger.

The Mac app is a linked device, not an independent account. WhatsApp's help article About linked devices says you still need your primary phone to register the account and to link new devices. The phone does not need to stay online once the Mac is linked, which is a change from older versions of WhatsApp Web that relayed everything through the phone.

Item	Official Mac app	WhatsApp Web in a browser
Requirement	macOS 12.1 or newer	A supported browser on macOS
Install	WhatsApp site or Mac App Store	None, open web.whatsapp.com
Voice and video calls	Yes, up to 32 people	Varies by browser
Counts toward the four linked devices	Yes	Yes
Accounts per install	One	One per browser session

For the browser route, WhatsApp's help page on supported browsers lists minimum versions of Chrome 100, Edge 100, Firefox 115, Safari 15 and Opera 86, and says calling works best on Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari and Opera.

Installing and linking it, step by step

The steps follow the order in WhatsApp's help article How to link a device. Menu labels on the phone differ slightly between iPhone and Android, but the item is called Linked devices on both.

On the Mac

1. Download WhatsApp from the download page or from the Mac App Store, and move it to Applications if you used the downloaded installer.
2. Open WhatsApp. It shows a QR code and an option to link with a phone number instead.
3. Leave this window open while you pick up the phone.

On the phone

1. Open WhatsApp on the primary phone.
2. Go to Linked devices in WhatsApp's settings, then tap Link a device.
3. If asked, confirm your identity with Face ID, a fingerprint or the phone's passcode.
4. Point the phone at the QR code on the Mac.

If WhatsApp detects a device it does not recognize, it asks whether you want to link it, with the options Don't link and Link device. At the time of checking, WhatsApp's help pages also carried a notice about a known issue where some linked devices do not display up to one year of chat history, and pointed users to the primary phone for the full history in the meantime.

Getting the notifications right

macOS will ask whether WhatsApp may send notifications. Allow it, then open System Settings, Notifications, WhatsApp, and choose whether alerts stay on screen or slide away. If WhatsApp stays open during work, one workable setting is banners on and the Dock badge off, so a new message is visible when it arrives but does not leave another red number on the screen all day.

The rules that catch people out

WhatsApp publishes a short list of conditions for linked devices. They are easy to miss during setup and become obvious a couple of weeks later.

Four linked devices at a time. The linked devices article says you can link up to four devices to your primary phone. A Mac app, a WhatsApp Web session in Safari, a work laptop and an iPad already use all four. Linking a fifth means removing one first.

Use the phone at least every 14 days. The same article notes that linked devices log out if the phone is unused for over 14 days. The how-to article says the same from the other side: log in to WhatsApp on the primary phone every 14 days to keep linked devices connected. A Mac that has been fine for weeks can suddenly show a QR code again after a holiday when the phone stayed in a drawer.

Inactive devices are removed after 30 days. WhatsApp also disconnects a linked device automatically after 30 days of inactivity. An old Mac you stopped opening will drop off the list by itself.

Some features stay on the phone. WhatsApp lists three things linked devices do not currently support: viewing a live location, creating and viewing broadcast lists, and interacting with businesses through WhatsApp Flows.

A linked Mac cannot be the primary device. The Mac, Web and iPad versions cannot register an account on their own. If the phone is lost, the account is recovered on a new phone, not on the Mac.

To review what is linked, open Linked devices on the phone. Tap any entry to see it and log it out.

Unlinking, security and a Mac you no longer use

Every linked device connects to WhatsApp on its own, and WhatsApp's linked devices article states that personal messages, media and calls stay end-to-end encrypted on each of them. That also means each device is a separate way into the account, so the list of linked devices deserves a look now and then.

WhatsApp suggests two habits. First, keep push notifications on for WhatsApp on the phone, because WhatsApp uses them to tell you when a new device is linked, and tapping the notification lets you review and remove a device you do not recognize. Second, check the list regularly: open Linked devices on the phone, tap the device, and choose Log out.

Do this before selling, returning or handing over a Mac. Dragging the app to the Trash removes it from the Mac, but the Linked devices screen on the phone is where WhatsApp lets you end the session, so log the device out there and confirm it has gone from the list. The same applies to a WhatsApp Web session left open on a shared or office computer: if you cannot reach that computer, log it out from the phone.

Linking also works without the camera. If the phone's camera is broken or the QR code will not scan, WhatsApp offers a link with phone number option on the Mac, which shows a code to enter on the phone instead.

Two WhatsApp accounts on one Mac

People with a personal number and a work number often expect the Mac app to switch between them the way the phone does. It does not. WhatsApp's help article How to switch accounts is explicit: the multiple account feature lets you have two accounts on a single mobile device, but it is not available on linked devices, and multiple accounts are currently only supported on mobile.

That leaves three practical setups.

1. Mac app for one account, browser for the other. Link the personal account to the Mac app and the work account to WhatsApp Web in a browser. Each is a separate linked device on a separate phone or on a separate account of the same phone.
2. Two browser sessions. Open WhatsApp Web in two places that do not share cookies, such as two Chrome profiles, or a regular window and a different browser. Each session links to its own account.
3. One app per account in a browser built for web apps. An app aggregation browser gives each web app its own cookie container, so two WhatsApp Web entries in one sidebar can be signed in to two different accounts at the same time.

One warning from WhatsApp applies to all of these. Its linked devices article says to link only on WhatsApp Web, the Windows and Mac apps, Android tablets, companion phones or supported glasses, and warns that linking through unofficial apps or websites may lead to a temporary or permanent ban. Whatever tool you use, check that it opens the official web.whatsapp.com page itself rather than its own copy of WhatsApp.

Keeping WhatsApp next to your work, not on top of it

The harder part of desktop WhatsApp is often not the app itself. It is where WhatsApp ends up: a separate window that is either hidden behind everything, so messages wait for hours, or floating in front, so every notification breaks concentration. Calls also pull the window to the front at awkward moments.

A few settings help regardless of which version you run.

• Mute the noisy groups. In WhatsApp, open a group, then Mute, and choose a period. Muted chats still collect messages but stop sending banners.
• Keep the window in one place. Give WhatsApp its own macOS desktop with Mission Control, or a fixed side of the screen, so you know where to look without searching.
• Decide on the Dock badge. A badge that is always non-zero teaches you to ignore it. Turn it off in System Settings if it never reaches zero.

If WhatsApp is one of several chat and mail apps open all day, the window problem multiplies. That is the case an app aggregation browser is built for: WhatsApp, Slack, Gmail and the rest sit as entries in one sidebar, each in its own space, with notifications gathered in one place and mute remembered per app. One such tool for macOS lists WhatsApp among the services on its supported apps page and describes a single notification center with a Do Not Disturb schedule on its features page. Its pricing page lists a free plan of 1 workspace with up to 3 apps, with multiple accounts for one service, such as two WhatsApp numbers, in the paid tier, checked on October 18, 2026. The trade-off to know before choosing that route is the one above: inside such a browser, WhatsApp runs as WhatsApp Web, so calling depends on the browser engine rather than the native app.

What to set up first

Install the official app from WhatsApp's download page, link it, and set a reminder to open WhatsApp on the phone at least every two weeks. If you need a second number on the Mac, put it in WhatsApp Web in a separate session rather than looking for a switch the Mac app does not have, or keep both in one window with SpaceDeck.