Retrogram puts real WhatsApp and Telegram chats into separate ICQ-style windows

Retrogram gives every contact a separate floating window. Your desktop can once again look as though everybody you know has opened a small branch office on it. The conversations come from current WhatsApp and Telegram accounts, so the nostalgic interface has somebody to talk to.

Felix Helleckes explains the choice in his own project write-up: rebuilding the old network would leave a client with no contacts. He wanted the interface around the people already in his current messengers. The new windows solve the empty-address-book problem without asking friends to migrate.

The repository README lists QR login for WhatsApp and QR or phone-number login with two-factor authentication for Telegram. Neither requires you to obtain an API key or developer account. Reconnecting an existing identity saves some setup, though it also makes the consequences of that connection more personal than trying a disposable demo.

Helleckes puts the WhatsApp risk ahead of the download: “do not use it on an account you cannot afford to lose.” He says Telegram has an official third-party API, while WhatsApp’s unofficial-client route can trigger enforcement. Those are the maker’s disclosures, rather than a promise that a particular account will be safe.

Under the interface, the README identifies Electron and React, Baileys for WhatsApp’s protocol connection and GramJS for Telegram’s MTProto connection. The project doesn’t bundle a browser for WhatsApp anymore. That change matters when the retro appearance suggests an old program has somehow been coaxed back online: these are modern connections behind familiar-looking windows.

The README also describes broadcasting changes to all the app’s windows, keeping the contact list and conversations synchronized. A separate window per person sounds like a cosmetic decision until unread counts and message state have to agree across the desktop. The software needs shared information while letting each conversation keep its own place.

Images, videos, GIFs and stickers make the trip, according to the feature list. WhatsApp read receipts distinguish pending, sent, delivered and read. So a familiar arrangement can still show modern message state, including the little acknowledgment that tells you somebody has seen the message and achieved complete silence anyway.

The current README is especially useful beside the older launch post. It now says macOS builds are signed and notarized, while Windows downloads still prompt SmartScreen warnings because they are unsigned. A nostalgic app shouldn’t require nostalgic installation advice. The latest release documentation deserves a look before any operating-system warning gets dismissed.

Separate windows could remain attractive even when their original visual style stops being fashionable. A conversation you leave beside your work stays visible without repeatedly selecting it from a sidebar. That benefit depends on having enough desktop space, and the account warning remains unresolved by anything the interface does. The download offers the old arrangement with very current strings attached.

Uh-oh has company.