WhatsApp, running on your computer
I previously wrote about playing WhatApp through VNC on your Mac, but this wasn’t useful if you didn’t have a phone near. Anyhow, there has been some development in the reverse engineering of Whatsapp and there are also some great emulators available right now, so I would like to introduce to you: Bluestacks running WhatsApp
Warning: you can only have 1 device connected to WhatsApp at the same time. Once you have entered the verification code on your computer, you can’t use WhatsApp on your phone anymore until you reactivate WhatsApp on your phone. This can only be done 60 minutes after sending the previous verification code. A great way to circumvent this is by using a landline number, since you won’t be installing WhatsApp on your good old DECT-phone.
So how do you get this running yourself?
Download the following files:
- Bluestacks Android Player from http://www.bluestacks.com/
- WhatsApp.apk from http://www.whatsapp.com/android/
Install Bluestacks by moving it from the dmg to your Applications folder (Mac) or clicking the installer (Windows).
Start Bluestacks, this can take some time and at least my computer showed 50% CPU loads for a while.
Install WhatsApp in BlueStack by running the follwing in Terminal:
~/Library/BlueStacks\ App\ Player/Runtime/uHD-Adb install
~/Downloads/WhatsApp.apkStart WhatsApp and set it up by entering your Country and Phone number, then wait till the time countdown is up. You will receive a SMS in the mean time, but you can’t enter this since – in Android – WhatsApp will handle this SMS automatically. After the time is up, WhatsApp will offer to call you. Pick up your phone and enter the code the woman reads on your computer.
Enter a name and your good to go. Enjoy!