WhatsApp is testing a new feature that will let people message without using their phone for the first time.
At present, WhatsApp is linked to a user’s phone. Its desktop and web apps need that device to be connected and receiving messages.
But the new feature will let users send and receive messages “even if your phone battery is dead”.
Up to four other devices – like PCs and tablets – can be used together, WhatsApp said.
To begin with, the new feature will be rolled out as a beta test for a “small group of users”, and the team plans to improve performance and add features before enabling it for everyone.
End-to-end encryption – a key selling point for WhatsApp – will still work under this new system, it said.
Several other messaging apps already have such a feature, including rival encrypted app Signal, which requires a phone for sign-up, but not to exchange messages.
WhatsApp Launches Beta Test of Multi-Device Connection, Expanding Usage Options
Facebook has announced a limited public beta test of its new multi-device capability for WhatsApp, which will enable WhatsApp users to use the app on various devices, without the need for an active mobile connection.
Facebook has also been working to enable interopeenable interoperability between its messaging apps, which will eventually see users able to send a message from WhatsApp to Instagram Direct, and/or Messenger, or vice versa, with all of Facebook’s back-end messaging processes linked.
That’s caused some angst among regulatory groups, who are concerned that full message encryption could help to disguise criminal activity, while antitrust analysts also speculate that the move could be designed to make Facebook’s platforms indivisible, meaning that if Facebook were eventually found to have too much market power, it could not be broken up, as some have suggested.
itate such change, and it’ll be interesting to see whether WhatsApp users are left up in arms again if and when Facebook does move to fully connect its messaging back-end, meaning it will have to share more WhatsApp user data back to Facebook HQ.
In any event, this new advance will facilitate more connection options via WhatsApp, making it easier to manage your WhatsApp messages, and maybe your WhatsApp business presence, on various devices.
