WhatsApp fixes its Mac app link previews but only in its beta for now

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Whatsapp On Mac
Whatsapp On Mac (Image credit: WhatsApp)

What you need to know

  • WhatsApp for Mac has a new beta that fixes an issue preventing link previews from working.
  • There is no indication of when the fix will be made available to the final version of WhatsApp for Mac.

WhatsApp for Mac's latest beta release fixes a problem that people have had to deal with for a while now — the update brings back the link preview feature that has been unavailable for some time.

Previously, WhatsApp would offer a preview of a link when sent or received in a message or group chat. That stopped working recently, with WABetaInfo blaming "technical reasons.* Now, the same outlet says that we can expect the feature to be back soon after a fix was applied to the latest beta version of the WhatsApp Mac app. WhatsApp Desktop beta 2.2212.1 is the most recent build.

Whatsapp Mac Link Preview

Whatsapp Mac Link Preview (Image credit: WABetaInfo)

About WhatsApp Desktop, the application has always supported link previews, but they stopped working recently due to some technical reasons. WhatsApp has finally addressed the issue by introducing a fix last week, and WhatsApp Desktop is now able to generate link previews again!

Note that the same feature is still not available for those who use WhatsApp on the web, however.

We don't yet know for sure when this link preview fix will roll out to the version of WhatsApp that we're all using, but we can only hope that it won't be a long wait. Those who don't already have the current version of WhatsApp can download it for their Mac right now. It's free and is one of the best Mac apps for communicating with people across platforms — specifically those on Windows and Android that don't have access to iMessage.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.