WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging client. Despite the recent (and ongoing) controversy over its new privacy policy that will enable it to share more user data with Facebook, it will likely continue to be the most widely used messaging app for the foreseeable future. And soon, it will get a feature WhatsApp users have long asked for: the ability to use the same number and account on more than one device at a time.
A user’s WhatsApp account will soon work on more than one device at the same time
Right now, WhatsApp only lets you use your account on a single phone or tablet. If you set it up on a new device, you’re logged out on the previous device. However, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed this week that an upcoming update for WhatsApp will remove this limitation and allow up to four devices to be connected to a single account. Apps like Signal and Telegram, which have seen plenty of WhatsApp users sign up in recent months, already allow the use of the same phone number/account on multiple devices, and it looks like WhatsApp finally decided to get with the program.
So, if you own multiple Galaxy devices at home, you will soon be able to use up to four of them to check and send messages on your WhatsApp account, instead of just being able to use one of those devices. WhatsApp will also be introducing disappearing messages support, which will automatically delete messages as soon as it has been sent by the recipient (similar to Instagram’s Vanish Mode). These new features will be available in the beta version of the app “in the next month or two”, and the stable version is likely to get them a few weeks after that.
Are you still using WhatsApp, or have you switched to apps like Telegram, Signal, or another messaging service because of WhatsApp’s new privacy policy?
