WhatsApp multi-device support rolling out now – you can connect up to four desktops, laptops and other devices

• WhatsApp multi-device support is rolling out to a limited number of beta testers.
• This will allow users to connect up to four non-phone devices, including desktops, laptops and more.
• WhatsApp has developed a new approach that ensures end-to-end encryption while offering a true multi-device experience.

WhatsApp multi-device support is finally, finally rolling out. This means you can now use WhatsApp on your desktop, laptop, tablet or other non-phone devices even when your phone’s battery is dead.

WhatsApp multi-device support is currently rolling out to a limited number of users as part of a beta test.

This new capability will allow you to connect up to four devices – desktop, laptop or any other non-phone device, apart from your smartphone. Each of these devices will connect to your WhatsApp account independently, so you don’t have to worry about keeping the connection alive on other devices.

What’s even better is that WhatsApp will sync your history on all these devices – this includes your chats, chat archives, contact names, starred messages and more. This ensures you enjoy the complete WhatsApp experience on all these devices and there is continuity, so you can pick up where you left off.

Addressing the security constraints of multi-device support

Inarguably, WhatsApp has been behind its competitors – Telegram and Signal – when it comes to multi-device support. But there’s a reason behind this – end-to-end encryption.

While Signal has end-to-end encryption, it doesn’t offer a true multi-device experience that Telegram does. On its part, Telegram doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption by default. In case you use encrypted chats – Telegram calls them Secret chats – they are not synchronised on other devices.

WhatsApp’s solution offers the best of both worlds – end-to-end encryption and true multi-device support.

Here’s a brief quote from the company’s post that sheds more light on this:

“The WhatsApp server maintains a mapping between each person’s account and all their device identities. When someone wants to send a message, they get their device list keys from the server.”

WhatsApp has also developed a new technology called Advanced Device Verification that aims to reduce the number of times a user has to perform identity verifications.

“This system allows for devices to automatically establish trust between each other in a way that someone needs to compare another user’s security code only if that user reregisters their entire account, rather than each time they link a new device to their account,” the company explained in a post.

It also illustrated how end-to-end encryption with the new multi-device approach will work:

WhatsApp multi-device support has been years in the making

Multi-device support has been one of the most requested WhatsApp features for several years now. WhatsApp had previously said that end-to-end encryption – one of the core features of the app – had made it difficult to roll out true multi-device support.

In the meantime, the Facebook-owned messaging service announced WhatsApp Web, allowing you to message from your desktop or laptop. This, however, required users to keep their phones connected to the internet.

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