Facebook-owned WhatsApp is now rolling out a feature that would allow users to link their account to secondary devices and continue to send and receive messages without the primary smartphone online. The feature is officially rolling out to all WhatsApp users in the most recent update of WhatsApp on both Android and iOS versions, reports GSMArena.
Previously, users had to make sure that their main smartphone was still connected to the internet before they could carry a conversation on your linked web browser. When enabling this feature on your smartphone, you need to opt into the feature - labeled as still in "Beta," the report said.
Once enabled, you will be unlinked from all devices before re-linking to a new device. Once linked, it behaves pretty much the same way, except you will be able to chat regardless of whether your main smartphone is online or not, it added. Plus, messages and calls are still end-to-end encrypted. Now, linked devices will be able to receive and send messages up to 14 days after the main smartphone goes offline.
According to the report, this might be useful if you are in a situation where you've lost your smartphone temporarily and needed to stay in touch with folks through WhatsApp, or if your smartphone runs out of battery but you are near a linked computer.
However, there's a limitation on iOS that doesn't allow you to delete messages or conversation threads from a linked device. The other limitation is that you still cannot link a tablet or secondary smartphone.
“With this new capability, you can now use WhatsApp on your phone and up to four other non-phone devices simultaneously — even if your phone battery is dead. Each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp independently while maintaining the same level of privacy and security through end-to-end encryption,” Facebook had posted earlier.
To check out the feature on Android, update to the latest version of WhatsApp and tap the three-dot menu on the top right. Then tap Linked devices and Multi-device beta. Tap JOIN BETA to enable this feature. For iPhone, go to WhatsApp Settings and tap Linked Devices. Then, tap Multi-Device Beta and Join Beta to activate the feature.
With IANS inputs