WhatsApp is already a leader in instant messaging, and lately it’s been working to get even better. For a few years now, Meta has been trying to make WhatsApp usable across multiple devices at once. First a web interface came early, and the ability to use accounts with secondary devices followed suit. WhatsApp multi device has so far supported using the same account on one primary device and up to four other linked devices, and now you’re finally getting the freedom to include as many additional smartphones as you like among them.
For the uninitiated, it took WhatsApp a complete ground-up redesign of its underlying architecture to let a smartphone be one of the four linked devices per account. For a while now, it has limited even beta users to using just one smartphone as a linked device, besides their primary handset. Workarounds leveraging Companion mode designed for tablets have been used with reasonable success, but the undoing of this limitation has been a long time coming.
WhatsApp recently removed the limitation for all beta users, and now, stable channel users can also enjoy the convenience of using one WhatsApp account on any combination of smartphones, computers, and Android tablets. There’s just two surviving quirks: you can only have four linked devices, and none of them can be an iPad. At least, while there’s no native iPad app support, you could always use a web login on the tablet’s browser as a workaround.
With the redesigned architecture, every linked device communicates with WhatsApp servers independently to keep chats synced. This also means your primary smartphone needs to come online at least once every 30 days to keep the linked devices operational, but can remain switched off otherwise. Meta promises end-to-end encryption remains available, no matter which device is used to access an account.
Anyone juggling multiple smartphones (i.e. most of us here at AP) should find this incredibly useful, as all of them can now access the same WhatsApp account. Multi-device combined with self-messaging is also rather handy if you want to transfer files between your linked devices. Meta further explains that small businesses could benefit because team members can use the same WhatsApp Business account to tackle multiple customer queries simultaneously.
Meta also touches upon a new QR-free way to link new devices to your account, headed our way in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, multi-phone support is already rolling out, and should go global on a similar timeframe. While this is a step in the right direction, you might want to temper your expectations. Linked smartphones don’t work exactly like the primary one, and we’re all going to have to get used to just what is and isn’t possible with this new WhatsApp experience.
Thanks: Moshe
