WhatsApp recently teased multi-device support and has now started rolling out this much-requested feature to beta testers. With multi-device support, you can use the same WhatsApp account across multiple devices without having to keep your phone connected to the internet. If using WhatsApp from all your devices independently is something you are interested in, read on till the end to know all about WhatsApp’s multi-device feature. We will detail how to check if you have access to multi-device beta, how to enable and use WhatsApp on multiple devices.
At the time of writing this article, WhatsApp is gradually rolling out multi-device beta support on Android and iOS devices. Even if you are using a beta build, you may not necessarily see the feature since it is a limited rollout. With that said, let’s see how you can check if your WhatsApp account supports multi-device feature and how you can enable it right now.
- What Is Multi-Device Support on WhatsApp?
- How to Enroll in WhatsApp Multi-Device Beta
- Use Same WhatsApp Account on Multiple Devices
- WhatsApp Multi-Device Beta: First Impressions
- Potential Privacy Concern with WhatsApp Multi-Device Feature
- WhatsApp Multi-Device Limitations
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Multi-Device Support on WhatsApp and How it Works?
WhatsApp’s multi-device feature lets you simultaneously use your WhatsApp account on your phone and up to four other devices. These devices include WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp Desktop for Windows, WhatsApp Desktop for Mac, and Facebook Portal. The best part here is that you will still be able to use WhatsApp on these devices even if your phone loses the internet connection. Unfortunately, you can’t use the same WhatsApp account (or phone number) on two phones just yet.
To overcome the limitation of requiring an active phone, WhatsApp has revamped its underlying architecture of how its messaging app works. According to the company, it now uses a client-fanout approach where each device has its own identity key. Plus, WhatsApp creates a pairwise encrypted session where the client encrypts the messages and transmits them to all the linked devices of the user.
At this moment, you will need a WhatsApp beta build to test the multi-device feature, and the beta program is full on both Android and iOS. So if you are already enrolled in WhatsApp’s beta program, here’s how to sign up for WhatsApp multi-device beta testing:
- If your WhatsApp account has received multi-device support, you will see a new “Multi-device beta” option here. Tap on it and press “Join beta” to join WhatsApp’s multi-device beta program.
Now that you have signed up for multi-device beta, it’s time to link your devices. To do that, follow the steps below:
- Open the “Linked devices” screen in WhatsApp on your phone and open the WhatsApp Web or Desktop app on your PC. Once the QR code appears, tap on “Link a device” on your phone and scan the QR code on your PC or Facebook portal device.
Based on my brief testing, WhatsApp’s multi-device feature worked flawlessly across all of my linked devices. I could send messages, emojis, GIFs, voice notes, and make voice and video calls without having to connect my phone to the internet. The best part? All the linked devices seamlessly synced the chat history without noticeable delay.
Now that WhatsApp Web and Desktop apps have multi-device support, I urge you to re-enable that “WhatsApp Web is currently active” notification if you had previously disabled it. I know, having a persistent notification might feel distracting to some, but WhatsApp Web has become fairly capable after the rollout of multi-device support. You may not immediately notice if someone is misusing your account unless you regularly check the “Linked Devices” page.
WhatsApp Multi-Device Limitations
Having said all that, here are the known limitations of WhatsApp’s multi-device beta, as detailed by WhatsApp:
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I Use the Same WhatsApp Account on Two Phones?
No, you can’t use the same WhatsApp account (or phone number) on two phones. You could, however, visit WhatsApp web from your second phone. In your phone’s browser, open WhatsApp web using desktop mode and scan the QR code to use WhatsApp from the browser on your second phone.
As long as someone didn’t have physical access to your Android or iOS phone, and didn’t log in to your account on WhatsApp Web, and turned off WhatsApp Web notification, no one can see your WhatsApp messages from another phone.
Apart from your primary phone, you can connect a total of four devices to your WhatsApp account. These devices can be WhatsApp Web, Desktop, or Facebook Portal. You can’t officially use WhatsApp with two phones right now.
WhatsApp is testing multi-device support in the beta channel on Android and iOS right now. You can use WhatsApp on multiple devices in the coming months.
5. How to Join WhatsApp Multi-Device Beta?
If you are enrolled in the WhatsApp beta program, you can access WhatsApp multi-device beta from the Linked devices page. We’ve detailed the instructions to join WhatsApp multi-device beta above.
