For over a decade, WhatsApp has been notoriously inflexible. You’ve been able to move the app from phone to phone, but in doing so you have to deactivate the previous handset. Until recently, jumping from iOS to Android or vice versa would see you losing your chat history, too.
This strict one-phone-per-account rule was fine for those with only one handset. But for people juggling multiple devices, WhatsApp’s rigid requirements have often been infuriating. Parent company Meta has apparently listened to those concerns, because starting today, WhatsApp will be usable on up to four handsets at once.
It works in much the same way as it already does on web browsers, tablets and desktops, with chats syncing across logged-in devices. This allows you to pick up chats where you left off. Meta suggests that it may be especially useful to small businesses, with up to four employees able to respond to customer queries via a WhatsApp business account.
Crucially, opening up access to multiple phones doesn’t break the built-in encryption. Meta says that each device connects to WhatsApp independently of one another, meaning that messages, media and calls remain end-to-end encrypted. If your primary device is inactive for an unspecified “long period”, your account will automatically be logged out on the other devices too.
While end-to-end encryption has never been a privacy silver bullet — anyone with in-person access to a handset with WhatsApp logged in could read the messages if they know the passcode, after all — it does mean that things aren’t structurally weaker by adopting multiple handsets. Though, of course, there are more phones to be theoretically accessed, so you’ll want to ensure you have biometric security and/or a strong passcode, password or PIN.
Meta says that the update has begun rolling out globally and will be “available to everyone in the coming weeks.” Alongside this, Meta says it’s making it easier to link companion devices to your WhatsApp account, and users will soon be able to receive a one-time code via WhatsApp Web rather than having to scan a QR code. This will also be rolled out over the next few weeks, the company says.
