If you use WhatsApp, there’s a good chance you use it (or can’t but would like to) on more than one device. But WhatsApp has always been limited to a single ‘main’ account on one smartphone tied to your mobile number, regardless of the combination of devices. Until now… kinda.
The eagle-eyed folks at WABetaInfo reported that the messaging platform’s new companion mode has received a wider rollout to beta testers, after first being available to a select few. The Google Play Beta Program has even opened up (at least it was at the time of writing) so if you’re quick you can check it out yourself if you aren’t already a tester.
This feature isn’t entirely new. It was first spotted in May 2022 while still in its development cycle. Then, in September 2022, the company released an early version of its companion mode to a few select testers. Back then, the update allowed tablet users to link their Android tablet to an existing account.
Now there’s no excuse for WhatsApp blueticks
The companion mode update is expanding and rolling out to all beta testers. It enables linking your existing WhatsApp account on up to four Android devices, including smartphones and tablets. If you’ve already linked WhatsApp Desktop or WhatsApp Web to your account, you’ll know what to expect.
Unfortunately for Apple users, this companion mode update only allows linking secondary Android devices. Meaning if your main smartphone is an Android device, you can’t link an iPhone or iPad. But if your main device is an iPhone, you can now link up to four Android smartphones or tablets as your secondary devices.
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After you’ve linked your secondary devices, your chat history should be synced across all devices. Additionally, end-to-end encryption for calls and messages is maintained when using linked devices. But there could be other caveats like linked devices not offering the full functionality of the main device.
It’s important to remember this is still a beta test, so things could still change before the feature rolls out to the public. And because this is WhatsApp, there’s no telling when that will be. The expansion of the beta test is a good sign that you shouldn’t have to wait too long, but let’s not count our WhatsApp features before they launch.
Source: WABetaInfo
