WhatsApp has launched a new option that allowed its users to login into one account on multiple devices as users are no longer restricted to using their accounts on just a single phone.
Meta, the parent company of the messaging app announced this multi-device feature on Tuesday, stating that one WhatsApp account can now access multiple phones and it will be rolled out to everyone in the coming weeks.
WhatsApp is throwing out the feature as a useful tool for small businesses that might want multiple employees to be able to send and receive messages from the same business number via different phones, which is also useful for anyone who uses multiple smartphones regularly and wants them all to be associated with the same WhatsApp account.
The new feature works across both iOS and Android devices, it works after installing the app, instead of entering your phone number during the setup and logging in as usual, one needs to tap a new link to the existing account option. This will generate a QR code to be scanned by the primary WhatsApp phone via the ‘link a device’ option in settings.
Although the original phone that logged into your account is considered the “primary” device, it doesn’t need to be turned on to receive messages across the other phones or devices. However, if the primary device is inactive for over 14 days, WhatsApp says it’ll log out of other devices. Though one can also manually log out of linked devices from the primary phone.
Also, once a secondary phone is linked to the WhatsApp account, one will be able to access and send messages from either phone. Messages will sync between devices for up to a year, making it possible to see chat histories before sending any new messages. Sync happens across phones regardless of their operating systems, whether it’s iOS to Android or vice versa.
Personal messages remain end-to-end encrypted, regardless of whether you’re using the multi-device feature.
There have previously been workarounds to access the same WhatsApp account on multiple phones via WhatsApp Web in a browser. But the experience has never been great, and official support for the feature should be far more seamless and useful.
