WhatsApp on Windows 11 Ditches Native UWP for WebView2: Performance Takes a Hit
Ddos 
WhatsApp, the instant messaging platform under Meta’s umbrella, has hundreds of millions of users worldwide. In an effort to enhance user experience, the service previously launched a native application for Windows 11, developed using UWP (WinUI) to offer a smoother, more integrated interface.
Regrettably, for reasons yet undisclosed, the latest Beta version of WhatsApp has reverted to a web wrapper—now powered by Microsoft Edge’s WebView2 Runtime. (It’s worth noting that earlier iterations of WhatsApp were also built using Electron, which essentially offered a similar web-based architecture.)
WebView2 Runtime, developed by Microsoft, serves as a web-based application loader and is utilized in Microsoft’s own applications, such as the new Microsoft Outlook. However, the overall experience it delivers can be described, at best, as underwhelming.
In this Beta release, WhatsApp is essentially a browser in disguise, encapsulating web.whatsapp.com as a desktop app. Yet the experience remains unmistakably that of a website—interactions are routed through web elements rather than native UI components.
For end users, this architectural shift translates into a noticeable degradation in performance. Users may encounter lags, increased resource consumption, and a general lack of responsiveness. A glance at the Task Manager reveals a swarm of processes linked to WebView2, highlighting the backend’s reliance on this framework.
Ironically, WhatsApp’s official documentation still references the native app, touting it as superior in terms of performance, reliability, and features—including enhanced notifications, calling capabilities, screen sharing, and more.
As this release is still in its testing phase, WhatsApp has not issued a formal statement regarding the architectural transition. Typically, such a shift is driven by the desire to reduce development and maintenance overhead, as it allows developers to make changes solely to the web version without needing to update the client-side application.
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