That’s it, WhatsApp has finally started the deployment of one of its most anticipated updates: the one that allows you to link multiple devices to a single account. What does this imply ? How does it work ? All the answers are in this guide.
We have been talking about it for several years. For some time, WhatsApp has been testing, internally and then in beta, the possibility of linking a single account to several smartphones. This is a real revolution for the application, which has long refused to comply with this exercise for fear of undermining its image of secure messaging.
But today, the wait is coming to an end. Indeed, the most popular messenger in the world has finally announced the imminent rollout of the feature to the general public. If the latter can still take up to several days before arriving on your smartphone, you may already be asking yourself several questions about how it works. So here are some answers.
Multi-device on WhatsApp, how does it work?
Until now, it was perfectly possible to connect to WhatsApp on several devices. Indeed, the application has a web and desktop version on which it is possible to connect via its telephone number. But precisely, this is where it goes wrong: a WhatsApp account can only be linked to a single telephone number, it was impossible to connect to it on a secondary smartphone.
It is this limitation that comes to settle the last update of the messaging system. Thanks to the latter, WhatsApp finally allows you to connect up to 4 smartphones to a single account. Meta also specifies that each device will connect independently, which means all messages and calls will benefit from end-to-end encryption, the main selling point of the application.
Moreover, if the main smartphone, understand the one from which you will connect the others, is inactive for too long, then all smartphones will be disconnected automatically, in order to ensure the security of the account.
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How to connect multiple smartphones to a WhatsApp account
Now that we’ve seen the basics of multi-device on WhatsApp, it’s time to learn how to connect multiple smartphones to a single account. The method is relatively similar on Android and iOS. So here’s how to go about it:
On Android
- On your primary smartphone, open WhatsApp
- Open the scrolling menu located at the top right of the screen
- Press on Connected devices
- Push the button Connect a device
- Unlock your smartphone. Depending on your settings, you will need to use either biometric authentication either your PIN code
- On your secondary smartphone, open WhatsApp
- Follow the instructions until you see a QR code on the screen
- Scan the QR code with your main smartphone
On iOS
- On your primary smartphone, open WhatsApp
- Click on Settings at the bottom right of your screen
- Press on Connected devices
- Push the button Connect a device
- Unlock your smartphone. Depending on your settings, you will need to use either biometric authentication either your PIN code
- On your secondary smartphone, open WhatsApp
- Follow the instructions until you see a QR code on the screen
- Scan the QR code with your main smartphone
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You just have to repeat this operation for all the smartphones you want to link to your account. Be careful though, don’t forget that for the moment, this feature is limited to 4 smartphones!