The hugely popular WhatsApp messenger application has now launched on the Windows Phone 8 operating system and will now offer WP8 users free cross-platform messaging for the first time on the latest OS.
Previously Windows 7 (or 7.5 Mango) users had access to the app but since the launch of Microsoft’s latest installment, which is sadly not backwards compatible for existing apps, the messenger service has been missing from the Microsoft App Store.
The app is now available as a free download and it has been developed in partnership with Nokia who has been the biggest supporter of the new Microsoft software since its first release last year and is currently offing the best iteration of the WP8 OS in its Nokia Lumia 920 and 820 smartphones.
Nokia has stated that they worked with WhatsApp to “produce a version that is properly optimised for the latest Windows Phone platform experience.”
However, with the app just released there are a few issues that users have noted, like the fact that there is no lock screen notifications on the Windows Phone 8 version which means that you wont be able to see if you have a message on the WhatsApp messenger unless you unlock the phone.
This feature is apparent in both the iOS and Android versions of the software and helps WhatsApp to be a direct replacement for standard messaging services, as alerts and notifications are displayed similarly to text and email messages.
WhatsApp has had a great 2012 with the service coming into its own as users slowly move away from paid messaging and onto the free multi-platform messenger. A real sign that the service is booming is the fact that Facebook recently updated its own Messaging service to be akin to WhatsApp, offering non-Facebook users a cross-platform messaging system.
Even if the app is not as good as its Android and iOS counterparts, WhatsApp is still an essential download for any new Windows Phone 8 users especially with the lack of quality apps that are on the newer handsets.
You can download WhatsApp on your Windows Phone 8 handset free of charge nowhere.