Key highlights
- The WhatsApp Companion feature is now available to all beta testers.
- The feature allows WhatsApp users to link a single account to multiple phones, up to 4.
- Users must update their WhatsApp from the app store to get the feature.
WhatsApp is rolling out the ability to link an existing WhatsApp account to other phones, thereby allowing users to access their messages on two or more phones at the same time. The ‘Companion’ feature, which was earlier released to a limited number of users on the beta version is now available to all beta testers who install the latest version of WhatsApp beta for Android available on the Google Play Store.
WhatsApp first announced the Companion feature in November 2022 as an extension of multi-device support, designed to allow users to link their existing WhatsApp account to another mobile phone. After linking an existing WhatsApp account to a secondary mobile phone, users can finally access their chats on the second device without requiring an active Internet connection on the main phone.
Interestingly, you can link up to four devices at once, meaning that you can link more than two mobile phones to your WhatsApp account. In addition, WhatsApp said your personal messages and calls remain end-to-end encrypted even when using WhatsApp from a linked mobile phone. According to WhatsApp, whenever someone sends you a message, it is sent to all your devices while maintaining encryption.
How to set up your account on other phones
- On your secondary Android mobile phone, download the latest beta of WhatsApp Messenger or WhatsApp Business from the Google Play Store.
- Tap the overflow menu within the registration screen and you should finally see the option “Link a device”.
- Open WhatsApp on your primary device, and tap Settings > Linked devices.
- Point this device to your secondary mobile phone to capture the QR Code.
- When you link your WhatsApp account to a new mobile phone, your chat history will be synced across all your linked devices.
Although the companion mode has been released for all beta testers, some features may still not be available, such as the ability to manage broadcast lists and post a status update from the linked device.
Currently available only on Android
At the moment, the second device can only be an Android phone (or a tablet) as the companion mode is not currently available on WhatsApp for iOS. However, if you have an iPhone, you can link a second Android phone as the feature is available on Android.