Latest WhatsApp beta hints at potential multi-device public preview phase

Damien Wilde | Jan 6 2021 - 2:20 am PT

True multi-device support is arguably the biggest and most anticipated feature to ever arrive on WhatsApp, but thanks to some new information, it looks like a public preview may be in the pipeline.

While many other third-party messaging clients such as Telegram have offered the option to message across devices with ease for some time, “true” multi-device support still eludes the world’s biggest cross-platform messaging application.

We have seen WhatsApp evolve over the past 12-18 months in some pretty meaningful ways, but being able to use one account across multiple devices simultaneously would be a massive addition – and one that would likely just tighten WhatsApp’s grip on its billions of users across the globe.

Digging by WABetaInfo has found that WhatsApp is at least considering a public preview of the multi-device messaging feature. However, as with many findings such as these, none of this is visible within a public-facing beta build as of yet.

While a public preview may never come to fruition, true multi-device support would mean that you could message from any linked device without your “main” device requiring an internet connection. At the moment, the only way to achieve anything remotely similar is to use WhatsApp Web. However, this requires an active connection to your main device, and that device requires a constant data connection.

Let’s hope that we get to see WhatsApp’s long-awaited multi-device support in full public preview at some point soon, as it would be a great way to keep long-term users happy. We’re sure it would be especially useful when using devices such as tablets and laptops, as while WhatsApp Web is a solid workaround, it can be prone to disconnection problems and lacks some features.