WhatsApp, native and fast.
A lightweight desktop WhatsApp client for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
Download · Install · Link your phone · Credits
Zeus is a fork of ZapFast by Carmine Paolino. It is a native WhatsApp app written in Rust with egui, with no browser engine inside. It links to your phone as a companion device, the way WhatsApp Web does, and keeps your chats in an encrypted archive on your own computer.
The screenshots use made-up demo chats, never real conversations.
Zeus is ZapFast, tuned for everyday use. It already ships ZapFast's new voice and video calls, and adds its own touches on top:
- Better calls. Pick your microphone once in Settings, and hold a key to talk when the room is noisy.
- Your colours. 20 ready-made themes, each in light and dark, or your own mix of look, mode and accent. Frosted bars, with blur you can switch off.
- Clearer chats. Photos and files show a preview and progress while they send, times can stay on every message, and sent messages fly in from the composer.
- Beside ZapFast, not over it. Its own Windows installer, folders, settings and linked devices, so both can run.
Everything else comes from ZapFast: formatting, replies, edits, reactions, media, stickers, GIFs, polls, voice messages, several numbers in one window, locked chats, an app lock, and tray notifications, in ten languages.
| Platform | How |
|---|---|
| Windows | Download zeus-v<version>-x86_64-pc-windows-msvc-setup.exe from Releases. It installs for your user without administrator rights and updates itself from then on. It is not
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code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen warns once: choose More info, then Run anyway. |
| macOS | Download the .tar.gz for your Mac (Apple Silicon is aarch64, Intel is x86_64) and run the zeus binary. There is no .app bundle yet, and the binary is unsigned. |
| Linux | Download the .tar.gz, unpack it, and run zeus. It includes a desktop entry and icon you can copy into place. |
| From source | Install Rust, then run cargo build --release --locked. Linux needs ALSA, PipeWire, and clang headers, and every platform needs cmake. |
Only the Windows build is tested by the maintainer. The macOS and Linux builds are produced by GitHub Actions and are not yet tried on real machines, so please report what you find.
- Open Zeus. It shows a QR code.
- On your phone, open WhatsApp, go to Linked devices, and choose Link a device.
- Scan the code. Your recent chats appear, and Zeus asks your phone for older history as you scroll.
Zeus is a companion device, so your phone remains the main account. Your chats stay in an encrypted archive on this computer, and nothing goes to a server of ours.
Zeus shares ZapFast's behaviour, so the ZapFast guides apply: how linking works, settings and stored files, shortcuts, and making your own theme. Their screenshots show ZapFast's name and colours.
Zeus exists because of ZapFast, created and maintained by Carmine Paolino (@crmne) and its contributors. The app, its design, and almost all of its code are their work. Please star and support the original project.
Zeus also builds on:
- whatsapp-rust for the WhatsApp protocol
- egui and fastframe for the interface and desktop integration
- the open-source libraries listed in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md
Zeus is an unofficial client. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to WhatsApp or Meta. Use it at your own risk: WhatsApp can limit accounts that use unofficial clients.
MIT. Copyright (c) 2026 Carmine Paolino, and Keshav for the changes in this fork. See LICENSE.