The New Opera browser lets you chat on WhatsApp while you work
If you get FOMO from being away from Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, Opera’s new update will please you very much.
Opera today introduced a new browser that integrates messaging apps to its sidebar. Codenamed “Reborn,” the browser lets you chat with friends through Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Telegram on a side window while you work on the main browser. Other messaging apps such as Viber and WeChat are not yet included in the support, although the company tells CNET it is working to make them available soon.
Opera is way behind Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox in terms of userbase, but often brings nifty features to its browser. Last year, the company introduced an integrated ad-blocking feature and built-in currency converter that allows online shoppers to see converted rates simply by highlighting the price of a product or service.
In the new browser, you can pin supported messaging apps to the sidebar as shortcuts. That means no more having to toggle between tabs or windows, even if WhatsApp is always just an Alt+Tab away (or in my case, Alt+Tab, Tab, Tab). You can also share photos online as well as sign out of the messaging apps directly from the browser.
While the new update brings our never-ending quest for multitasking solutions on the laptop to greater heights, it raises concern over privacy issues. For example, WhatsApp previously rejected requests from UK authorities to grant them third-party access to the Westminster attacker’s account as part of investigations following the March attack.
“Using WhatsApp on Opera is exactly the same as using the web service. Like other browsers and websites, Opera does not have access to any information shared or transmitted via this service,” says Krystian Kolondra, Opera’s Executive Vice President of Desktop.
