The popular WhatsApp messaging platform launched its web client several months ago but is still not accessible through the iPhone’s browser. Luckily, if you have a jailbroken iPhone, it is possible to navigate to and make use of the web client. If you prefer the layout and features available on the full web client as opposed to those on the iPhone app, it might be worth checking out. As of now, Apple has not allowed access to the web client through iOS devices for a variety of reasons, mainly security concerns. However, WhatsApp Web Enabler is a convenient little patch that will add web client support to the WhatsApp app.
To download and install the patch, simply navigate to Cydia and the Big Boss repository and select the WhatsApp Web Enabler.
Once it has been applied, if you open the WhatsApp iPhone app, under Settings you will see a new button called WhatsApp Web. Tapping this button should allow you to go to web.whatsapp.com where you can scan a QR code which would then launch the full web client. You can also choose to disable the patch from the Settings menu of the iPhone if you decide you don’t need it at that time. The current version also contains a number of bugfixes that address problems users had with the very first release.
Of course there are some security concerns when using this type of access to your messaging accounts and this is the main reason Apple has blocked web client access so far. It’s possible that they will review the process and allow it sometime but for now, this patch is the only way to access the web client on an iPhone. If you are a rabid fan of WhatsApp and find that the iOS version just isn’t cutting it, then by all means use this trick to try out the web client. Your contacts await the next stream of instant messages and emoticons.
