WhatsApp Multi-Device Support Arrives For Beta Users; Wait, There's A Catch!

Amongst the several anticipated features of WhatsApp is the multi-device support for which the company has started trials officially. Users have been requesting this feature whose function is to allow using the app with the same account on different devices. The company is rolling out an update that adds multi-device support to WhatsApp. How will this feature work and what are all key points the brand has shared?

WhatsApp Multi-Device Support Now Available

WhatsApp via its blog post has confirmeded that it has released a limited public beta update that brings the much anticipated multi-device support. With this new feature, users will now be able to access their WhatsApp accounts on up to four other non-phone devices.

This means the accounts will be accessible on the linked devices even if the primary unit is not connected to the internet or is switched off. This is unlike the current scenario, where the primary device needs to be in a network range for the application to be used on laptops/ PCs.

In a statement, WhatsApp said, "each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp independently while maintaining the same level of privacy and security through end-to-end encryption."

With the new multi-device support update, the phone won't be the primary unit rather each of the companion devices will have a unique key for the data to be "seamlessly and securely synchronised and stay private". There wouldn't be any privacy concerns with the synched data across the companion devices. But, there is one catch.

What's The Catch?

The multi-device support is currently available for companion devices such as laptops and PCs. You won't be able to use this multi-device support feature on two smartphones simultaneously. This comes as a bummer for the users who intend to use this messaging application on two different smartphones. This has been one of the major factors why users have been requesting this option for a long.

Besides, the beta version also doesn't support audio/video calling from the companion devices (if it's a dated version). There are some other sets of limitations as well for the companion devices which we might see in future updates.

It is worth mentioning that this option is currently limited to beta users. The company is yet to release the stable version. So, we might have to wait for a while to receive the update for the same.