Desktop app
Whorl runs fully in a web browser, including at phone width. A desktop app also exists, built with Electron for Apple-silicon Macs. Today it is an unsigned preview that Whorl builds by hand, and there is no public download. Use Whorl in your browser unless your company gives you a preview build.
Note
This page describes the preview app so that you know what it does if you are given one. Nothing here is needed to use Whorl.
What the preview adds
The desktop app opens the same Whorl you see in the browser, plus a few things a browser cannot do:
- Ask Whorl bar. A floating bar that works over any other app. Press ⌘⇧Space to say what you want done. It needs Voice, an experimental feature, to be on.
- Native notifications for mentions, Requests and updates. See Activity and Requests.
- Always-on-top huddle window when Whorl is not in front, for companies that use Huddles.
- Switch Space by number. In the desktop app, ⌘1 to ⌘9 switch Spaces, listed in Settings → Shortcuts.
On first use of voice features on a Mac, the app asks for microphone access. If you refused it, the app offers to open System Settings at the Microphone pane.
Sign in
The desktop app signs you in through your browser. Choose Sign in in the app, finish signing in on the Whorl page that opens, and return to the app. If no page opened, choose Sign in again.
Without the desktop app
Everything else is available in the browser: Threads, Captains, Notes, Files, Mail, Calendar, Conversations and Settings. Keyboard shortcuts lists the shortcuts that work in both.