WhatsApp without a smartphone: three ways to use it from your PC

Using WhatsApp without a smartphone: emulator, SDK or terminal

Having WhatsApp without buying a phone or signing up for a data plan is possible. The recipe, put forward in a tight-budget context, involves installing an Android emulator on your computer and validating the account with the SMS code sent to any borrowed phone. The trade-off is clear: you lose the point of carrying WhatsApp in your pocket, but you gain the ability to type from your PC keyboard without paying for a new device.

Three routes and one common requirement

The original proposal distinguishes three routes. The first is Bluestacks, an Android emulator for Windows which, according to the author of the proposal, used to be paid and would have become free after a website change —with the caution of someone asking to be corrected if they are wrong—. The second is installing the Android SDK with its emulator, a more complex option reserved for those unafraid of Eclipse. The third, described as dated and old-school, requires the terminal of a *nix system, Linux or Mac.

In all three cases there is one non-negotiable step: registering a phone number with WhatsApp. All that number needs is to be able to receive SMS. The code that arrives on the phone is entered into the emulator and the account is validated. The phone does not have to be smart or have data; it only needs to receive a text message once.

The limit nobody gets past: one number, one device

The most useful warning comes from the experience of someone who has already tried it on a tablet: the same number can only be used in one place. If you activate WhatsApp on the PC or the tablet, you lose it on your phone. It is the technical trade-off of a service designed to tie identity to a number, and it explains why this solution works for those giving up the smartphone, not for those wanting to duplicate the app.

To get around the need for a SIM, services that provide a mobile number different from the card's are suggested, with the caveat that some require ID verification. The most smiled-upon alternative among those present is the Android emulator, pointed out as the friend that sorts out the paperwork.

The flaw in the scheme: no groups, no paradise

The conversation leaves a loose end that sums up the gap between theory and real use: managing groups from these solutions remains unsolved. And the underlying question comes up, the one that explains why anyone would bother setting all this up: if the goal is messaging people who have WhatsApp, email won't do, because the other person doesn't check it. The value is not in the tool, but in the network where everyone else is.

The detail that throws people off is not technical. It's that the most applauded solution —a terminal utility— is summed up with an it works bloody well and signed off from a low-end phone. The barrier to entry was never the cost of the device, but the plan.