WhatsApp seems to be operating on a feature that would let users chat with the same account on multiple phones or a phone and a tablet, according to a screen discovered in a beta rendition of the app by the site WABetaInfo.
The screen teaches you to register the device you’re using as a “companion” by scanning a code with your primary phone — though currently, there isn’t an actual code to scan. You’ve been competent in linking your account to many computers.
A screen found in a previous beta showed that devices could be getting the ability to sync recent messages, even though they’re end-to-end encrypted. That screen, combined with the “Register Device as Companion” screen that instructs users on how to use WhatsApp on another device, adds compelling evidence that this feature is in the works.
Both screens have been found in the Android version of the app, which implies that the feature will support chatting on a secondary phone or tablet. At the moment, it’s unclear if the feature will also be available on iOS if and when it launches, though there is a precedent indicating it will.
WhatsApp technically supports using your account on multiple devices via the Linked Devices feature, which currently only helps using computers as secondary devices. The quality is available on both iOS and Android.
WhatsApp rolled out Linked Devices as a public beta in November 2021 and has improved on it since then (though there are still a few unsupported features, depending on what your primary device is). But while Linked Devices is handy for desktop users, it doesn’t do much for those with secondary smartphones or tablets.
WhatsApp Messenger, or WhatsApp, is an internationally available American freeware, cross-platform centralized instant messaging (IM), and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to send text messages, makes voice and video calls, and share images, documents, user locations, and other content. WhatsApp’s client application runs on mobile devices.
Still, it is also obtainable from desktop computers, as long as the user’s mobile device remains interconnected to the Internet while they use the desktop app. In addition, the service needs a cellular mobile telephone number to sign up. In January 2018, WhatsApp dismissed a standalone business app targeted at small business proprietors, WhatsApp Business, to permit companies to communicate with customers who employ the standard WhatsApp client.
The client application was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, and was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for around US$19.3 billion.
It became the world’s most famous messaging application by 2015 and had more than 2Bn users globally by February 2020. By 2016 it had become the primary compromise of Internet communication in Latin America, the Indian subcontinent, and large parts of Europe and Africa.