The multi-device functionality of WhatsApp has been in the news for quite some time now. The company first announced the feature in 2021. However, at that time it was available in beta for a limited number of users. Then last year, the Meta-owned messaging app rolled out the feature to all its users globally. At the time, the feature enabled users to link their WhatsApp accounts to up to four devices including their personal computers, laptops and tablets. Now the company is further improving this feature.
WhatsApp today announced that its users can now link their WhatsApp accounts to up to four smartphones.
“Today, we’re further improving our multi-device offering by introducing the ability to use the same WhatsApp account on multiple phones,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post.
This update works in the same way as the original multi-device support feature that was rolled out last year. The only caveat last year was that users could not link multiple smartphones to their WhatsApp account. This year, WhatsApp is doing away with that limit by allowing users to connect up to four smartphones to their WhatsApp accounts.
WhatsApp says that each phone linked is independently connected to WhatsApp, which in turn ensures that all personal data of users, including messages, media and calls, is end-to-end encrypted. However, the company warns that if a user’s primary device remains inactive for a long period of time (14 days), the company will automatically log them out of all companion devices.
“Adding phones as companion devices makes messaging easy. Now you can switch between phones without signing out and pick up your chats from where you left off. Or if you’re a small business owner, additional employees are now able to respond to customers directly from their phones under the same WhatsApp Business account,” the company said.
As far as availability is concerned, WhatsApp says that it has started rolling out this update to all users globally and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.
Link companion devices easily
Besides this, the company also announced that it is making it easier for users to link companion devices to their WhatsApp accounts. The company announced today that users can now enter their phone number on WhatsApp Web to receive a one-time code, which they can use on their smartphone to enable device linking, instead of scanning a QR code. The feature will be available to all WhatsApp users around the world in the coming weeks.
WhatsApp said it plans to bring the feature to more companion devices in the future.
The post WhatsApp’s multi-device functionality gets smarter: Here’s what changes appeared first on Techlusive.
