You may not have noticed anything missing from the world over the last couple of weeks, but new Windows Phone users will have been puzzled by the absence from the Store of WhatsApp, the popular cross platform messaging service. It's still not clear what caused it to go AWOL for a while (some compatibility issue with Windows Phone 8.1 DP update is probable), but in any case it's officially available for new users again, with a sizeable changelog too, available as an update for those who already had it installed, of course.

The changelog for WhatsApp v2.11.490 is listed as:

• Chat backgrounds
• Broadcast lists
• Privacy settings (settings > account > privacy)
• Media auto-download settings (settings > chat settings > media autodownload)
• Custom notification tones (Windows Phone 8 Update 3 required)
• Various enhancements and bug fixes

I have to confess that I can't use WhatsApp - the tie-in to a particular SIM card and installation means that it quickly becomes untenable for anyone who swaps SIMs and devices often - definitely a First World problem!

But WhatsApp is very popular across the world and it's great to see it back on Windows Phone and with a fuller feature set.

You can download or update WhatsApp here in the Store. Comments welcome if you use WhatsApp regularly - is the Windows Phone client right up there with the iOS and Android versions?