WhatsApp Closer to Implementing Multi-Login on Other Smartphones and Tablets

What WhatsApp has been lacking all these years was the ability to use it on multiple devices with the same account. For safety reasons, the developers didn’t implement it… until recently. Now, right after the messenger became usable on desktops in standalone mode, here comes the ability to use it on secondary smartphones or tablets.

According to WABetaInfo, the recent beta version of WhatsApp for Android 2.22.10.13 contains elements that can be interpreted as plans to implement multi-device login. The app has a so-far hidden menu section named “Register Device as Companion”, which suggests WhatsApp users may be able to register secondary devices for their account. Secondary in this case means that these are not the devices that carry the phone number linked to the account.

The instructions that have been found at the bottom of the page suggest that to activate your secondary device, you will have to scan the QR code on it with the camera on your primary device. To do it, you will have to run your WhatsApp instance on your primary device, go to Settings, and select “Linked Devices” This method of secondary device activation is common; WhatsApp uses it for authentication on desktops as well.

After the secondary device is connected, you can use WhatsApp on it even if your primary device is offline. Though it was considered earlier that secondary devices might be tablets or Chromebooks but not phones, what’s been found in the beta version suggests the opposite: phones may be used as secondaries as well.

Would you want to have an opportunity to run WhatsApp on multiple devices? Are you okay with the fact that a running WhatsApp instance may be out of your control on another device? Do you believe Meta will make it secure enough? If you have WhatsApp, you probably have an opinion about it; please share it in the comments!