Facebook’s WhatsApp is easily the largest messaging platform on the planet with over 2 billion users. Thanks to its simplicity and end to end encryption, it has remained a default for many people despite the growth in competition from so many other services. Easily WhatsApp’s biggest frustration though – and arguably one of the things that has helped keep its focus on privacy and security – is the fact that messages are saved on a device and cannot be viewed when using WhatsApp from a different device.
That is going to be changing soon though as WABetaInfo reports that WhatsApp is testing the ability to use an account on multiple devices, including a separate iPad app. WhatsApp does currently supports multiple devices through its WhatsApp Web app, which connects back to a phone account and allows a person to view the messages sent to their device, however this requires devices to be on and connected to the web to receive the message and doesn’t keep messages in sync with the handset.
This new feature will allow for multiple devices o be using the make Whatsapp account at the same time and likely support chat history sync, allowing WhatsApp users to sync their messages across devices. The article also reports that WhatsApp will release its long-rumoured iPad app once the multiple devices support is ready to be released.
There are no details on exactly how much data it will keep in storage for syncing, though it’s likely those details will be finalised over time before they release it. For people with multiple devices who like to stay in contact wherever they are, this new feature will certainly make it easier for them.
Last Updated: August 12, 2020
