WhatsApp is forcing Windows users to log out of their desktop app as Meta completes its controversial transition from a native application to a Chromium-based web wrapper.
Users are reporting a pop-up notification stating “The next update will start on December 9th” and warning that they’ll need to log back in using their phone. According to a Reddit post on r/whatsapp, the message confirms what many feared: “It’s going to be a web app from now on”.
The one-time forced logout marks the final stage of a rollout that’s been quietly happening since July 2025. Meta’s replacing the optimized UWP (Universal Windows Platform) app with a web wrapper powered by Microsoft’s Edge WebView2 technology — essentially making the desktop app a glorified browser running web.whatsapp.com.
Early testing reveals the new version uses up to 3X more RAM than its predecessor. The native UWP app ran comfortably under 100MB of RAM, but the web wrapper starts at 300-600MB while idle and balloons to 1.2GB when scrolling through chats. Users on Reddit are echoing these concerns, with one commenter noting “the app ram usage just went from average 100-200 mbs into 1.5-2 gigs”.
The app also feels noticeably slower. Chat switching now has visible delay, and animations feel choppy compared to the snappy UWP version. We’d seen hints of these performance issues back in November when users first reported WhatsApp for Windows 11 running slow after updates.
Meta’s reasoning? Consolidating to a single codebase makes feature rollouts faster and reduces maintenance overhead. But ironically, the company previously touted that native apps offer “increased performance and reliability” — benefits they’re now abandoning for development convenience.
For now, there’s no going back. The web wrapper is here to stay, and if you’re still on the old version, expect that logout notification any day now.
Dwayne Cubbins
2716 Posts
I cover fast-moving stories across apps, online platforms, and everyday tech — phones, wearables, consoles, and whatever else people are fighting with this week. Bugs, rollouts, scams, policy enforcement, and the occasional internet-culture rabbit hole are all fair game. My goal is simple — make confusing tech news readable. When I'm not working, I'm working out or chilling with my dog. Got a tip? You can find me on X @dcubbins.
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