WhatsApp multi-device support goes live for select beta users

WhatsApp users, your most requested feature is finally becoming a reality: multi-device support. We don’t know why it took them so long to implement such a basic thing, but as they say, better late than never. WhatsApp has been dropping hints about the multi-device since last year. But it wasn’t until last month that we received a confirmation from none other than Facebook premier Mark Zuckerberg that the multi-device support would be rolled out for everyone in the coming months. And pretty sure, the company is finally rolling out the true cross-device experience for WhatsApp users.

Facebook on Wednesday announced the limited rollout of multi-device support for WhatsApp beta users. With this, it’s now finally possible to run WhatsApp on multiple devices simultaneously. You can have the same WhatsApp account up and running on up to four non-phone devices. What this means is that you still can’t use the same WhatsApp account on more than one phone, but you’ll be able to use the same account on WhatsApp for Web, Desktop, and Portal at the same time.

WhatsApp users could always access WhatsApp on a PC browser and phone simultaneously, but it required that your phone must remain connected to the internet all the time — if you turned off data or ran out of battery, you would lose access to WhatsApp on PC.

With the new multi-device capability, each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp account independently, and WhatsApp says they have developed new architecture to ensure end-to-end encryption is not compromised while syncing chats, contact names, chat archives, starred messages, and so on across devices.

Companion devices will have to be linked by scanning a QR code, and on compatible devices, WhatsApp will also enforce biometric authentication as an extra layer of security. Users will be able to see all the companion devices linked to their WhatsApp account. They can also see when they were last used and will be able to log out of them remotely. For more information, check out WhatsApp’s FAQ page about the multi-device feature.

Multi-device support is rolling out with the latest WhatsApp beta update. I received the feature on my phone running WhatsApp beta version 2.21.15.2. But since it’s a limited rollout, your mileage may vary.

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