Do you remember MSN Messenger ? When someone went online you received a warning in Windows. If it went on and off like crazy, you’d get a spam of notifications that filled the screen. In WhatsApp there is the status of online, but the app does not notify you in any way when someone connects or stops connecting.
If you want to receive a notification when one of your WhatsApp friends is online , you have many options, but the vast majority of them are somewhat obscure or simply no longer work. We tell you how to achieve it relatively safely and reliably, as well as explaining why it is not recommended that you use “special” apps for it.
Forget spy apps
Until recently, the WhatsApp connection status was public, which led to the proliferation of all kinds of applications and websites to check if someone is connected or not, just by entering the phone number. These apps stopped working correctly since WhatsApp began to prevent anyone from accessing the data : a previous connection was necessary (a message, for example).
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As if this were not enough, WhatsApp is now activating the privacy setting that was missing : being able to hide when you are online from some or all contacts. The normal thing is to configure that only your contacts can see when you are connected, so that these third-party applications are not directly useful, except for those who have configured it as public.
With third-party apps out of the picture, the only alternative would be to use a modified version of WhatsApp that has a similar notification option, which is never really recommended. It could get your account banned or worse, they could spy on all your messages and contacts.
WA Web Plus to the rescue
A more affordable option is to use a Google Chrome extension that alters WhatsApp Web to add some external functionality. Continuing with the comparisons with MSN Messenger, it would be something like Messenger Plus, but for WhatsApp Web.
The extension in question is called WA Web Plus for WhatsApp and you can add it to your Google Chrome on a PC from the official store. The privacy policy of the application reveals that the collected data is not sold to third parties, used or transferred for any purpose other than the main function.
After installing the extension, open WhatsApp Web in a browser tab and you will see that everything is the same as always. This is so because the extension is active, but by default it does not have any active changes. To do so, you must click on the extension icon in the Google Chrome bar.
This opens an options window superimposed on WhatsApp Web, with the different options added. The one we are interested in for our purpose is Notify about online contacts . The advantage of this method over third-party apps is that the data we receive respects the privacy options of each user.
After activating the box, you can now return to your WhatsApp Web and use it as usual. Notifications are displayed quite subtly at the bottom left , every time one of the contacts you have an open chat with connects.
Specifically, you will see for a few seconds the text Pepito is already online . By clicking on the name of the contact, a chat with that person is opened directly. The extension notifies us when someone goes online, but not when they go offline.
The notification is subtle, that’s undeniable
It’s not as visible a notification as MSN Messenger’s, but it’s as close as you can get without using mysterious apps or services that almost certainly won’t work. If you want to know when your WhatsApp contacts are connected, it is the best option today .