A native WhatsApp companion for Linux, built with Rust, GTK4 and libadwaita.
Download · Features · Install · Report a bug
ZapTide links to your phone through whatsapp-rust, without a browser engine. Messages stay in a local, encrypted archive.
Warning
ZapTide is unofficial and is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta. Using an unofficial client may violate WhatsApp's terms and put your account at risk.
- Text, voice notes, polls, stickers and attachments.
- Voice and video calls with one contact, with a call history.
- Multiple accounts with separate history and settings.
- Chat search, starred messages and link previews.
- Desktop notifications and synced read status.
- Phone notifications while you do not use ZapTide: ZapTide goes offline soon after you leave it or stop using it (Preferences, Notifications).
- Light, dark and custom themes.
- Optional cleanup of old downloads (Preferences, Storage): attachments saved on this computer are deleted after 30 days to a year, as you choose. Messages stay.
Download a Flatpak or AppImage for x86_64 or aarch64 (ARM64). Native distribution packages are not available yet.
Configure Flathub, then install the bundle (replace the filename):
flatpak install --user ./zaptide-vX.Y.Z-x86_64.flatpak
flatpak run dev.luminusos.ZapTideFor a newer bundle, use --reinstall:
flatpak install --user --reinstall ./zaptide-vX.Y.Z-x86_64.flatpakFor a system installation, replace --user with --system.
Save the download as zaptide.AppImage and run it:
chmod +x ./zaptide.AppImage
./zaptide.AppImageUpdate in place with AppImageUpdate, which downloads only changed blocks. Replace pre-0.7.2 AppImages manually once; they lack update information.
After updating, quit from the menu or with Ctrl+Q and reopen. Closing the window (Ctrl+W) can leave the old version running.
Scan the QR code from WhatsApp's Linked devices, or link with your phone number. History may take a few minutes. The avatar adds or switches accounts; Remove Account… unlinks one and deletes only its local data.
Enter sends; Shift+Enter adds a line (configurable). Emoji selection returns focus to the input. Escape dismisses selection, edits or replies before closing the chat. Close Chat also returns home; both keep drafts and mark nothing as read.
GIFs play silently while their rows are shown. Leaving the conversation or hiding the window releases their playback resources; showing them again restarts playback.
Warning
Calls are new and have only been tested without a real call: no voice or video call has been placed against a phone yet, so audio quality and video interoperability are unverified. The ring and the notification buttons have not been heard or clicked on a desktop either. Expect rough edges.
Open a direct chat and use the phone or camera button in its header to call. Incoming calls open a call window, ring and send a desktop notification with Answer and Decline buttons, whichever account they belong to. Decline, answer, mute, and turn the camera on or off from the window as well: the choices are pill buttons, and Mute and the camera are round switches that show a crossed-out icon while the microphone or camera is off. The window rearranges itself below about 400 px wide, and the incoming call notification stays on screen until you use it. Calls are listed under the Calls tab beside Chats and Archived, and each one also appears in its chat as an event such as "Missed voice call". Calls placed from your phone show up in the history after syncing.
A call rings with the desktop's sound theme (phone-incoming-call, and
phone-outgoing-calling while you place one), or with a tone of its own when
that sound is not installed. The incoming ring stops when you answer, decline or
close the window, and it stays quiet when Notifications are turned off in
Preferences or the desktop's do-not-disturb is on; the tone for a call you place
is not affected. Inside a sandbox the do-not-disturb setting may not be
readable, in which case the call rings.
When a second person calls during a call, the window and a notification offer Decline and End and answer. Declining tells the caller the call was declined. If you do nothing, it rings out and shows up as a missed call. A second call does not interrupt the first: ZapTide holds one call at a time, with no hold, and WhatsApp's library cannot send a "busy" reply, so only one waiting call is announced and a third just rings.
Calls connect to WhatsApp's relay servers over UDP and use the default
microphone and speaker. Video needs a camera, an H.264 encoder (the GStreamer
openh264 or x264 plugin) and a decoder (libav or openh264). Without them
a voice call still works and a video call tells you what is missing. When a video
call goes on without a camera, the window says "No camera available" and the camera
button stays off. Outside a
sandbox the camera is opened directly; when that finds none, ZapTide asks the
camera portal, which also reaches cameras that only PipeWire exposes.
- Flatpak: the camera is opened through the desktop's camera portal, which
asks for permission the first time and can be changed in the desktop's
settings. If you refuse, or do not answer within a minute, a video call you
place stops with a message saying so; one you answer carries on without your
picture. The sandbox grants no direct access to camera devices. The portal
route has been run against a real session portal and camera outside a
sandbox, but not yet inside a Flatpak. The GNOME runtime has no H.264 encoder
of its own: x264 comes from its
codecs-extraextension, which Flatpak installs with the app when a remote offers it. Without that extension a video call reports a missing H.264 component (not tested). - AppImage: the bundle carries an H.264 decoder, but whether it carries an encoder and the camera plugins has not been checked; voice calls are the supported path.
- Only one call is live at a time (see above), group calls do not ring, and a call ends when the app quits.
Important
Back up the archive with its OS keyring credential: archive.db alone cannot
be decrypted. Unlock a locked keyring; restore a missing credential instead of
replacing the key or deleting the archive.
Device credentials, downloads, saved stickers and settings are unencrypted; use full-disk encryption for them and backups. Data and keyring entries are separate from ZapFast, FastsApp and FastWhatsApp. Link ZapTide separately.
Downloaded attachments live in the cache folder. When you turn on "Delete old downloads", ZapTide removes the ones saved longer ago than the period you pick, a little after it starts and every few hours while it runs. Only those files go, never messages, stickers or anything outside that folder. A removed file downloads again when you open it, if WhatsApp still has it; files WhatsApp no longer keeps are lost.
Previews contact websites directly while composing, without proxies or redirects. Private/reserved destinations are blocked. Disable previews per account or remove one.
Stored chats remain available with a notice if phone settings cannot be read; locked chats stay locked until those settings arrive.
- Group calls, status posts, communities and group administration are not supported. Newsletter channels are read-only.
- Messages with disappearing timers remain in the local archive after they expire on your phone.
- Keyboard shortcuts and screen-reader labels are available; accessibility is incomplete.
Install Rust through rustup and the dependencies in PACKAGING.md. The toolchain is pinned. GTK 4.14+ and libadwaita 1.10+ are required; CI uses Fedora 45.
git clone https://github.com/luminusOS/zaptide.git
cd zaptide
cargo build --lockedSee CONTRIBUTING.md for checks and running with translations, and ARCHITECTURE.md for the code layout. Report vulnerabilities privately through SECURITY.md.
ZapTide is a LuminusOS hard fork of ZapFast, with a Relm4 interface and multiple accounts. Original code © Carmine Paolino; see LICENSE.