However, that has changed as WhatsApp has started to roll out on a wider basis the ability for users to use WhatsApp on their desktop without a phone. The feature is still currently in beta, but pretty much all users can now take part in it. All they need to do is link up their devices once as part of the setup and they’re good to go.
We’ve tested out the feature ourselves and it certainly works just fine, even if your device is off or if you lose your connection, you’ll still be able to send and receive messages on WhatsApp on your desktop. The setup process involves the web version of WhatsApp, but once you’ve got that up and running, you’ll be able to switch to the desktop app.
WhatsApp notes that there are some limitations to the feature at the moment, where you can’t make calls to devices which might be running an older version of the app, but presumably as more users update it should become less of an issue in the future.