A leak suggests that WhatsApp will soon offer a “companion mode” that will enable multiple smartphones or other devices to log in to the same account.
This will allow users to simultaneously access their conversations, send messages, and make calls from multiple devices.
A savvy user discovered the feature in an unreleased WhatsApp update presently being tested via the Google Play Beta Program.
This is a subscription service that grants Android consumers exclusive access to updated Google Play store applications.
According to screenshots shared by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp users will be able to attach a secondary device by scanning a QR code.
Download and run WhatsApp on the secondary smartphone, then touch the three-dot menu on the registration screen.
Then they can tap ‘Link a device,’ which will display a unique QR code.
The user can then access WhatsApp on their primary device, navigate to ‘Settings’ and ‘Linked devices,’ and scan the QR code on their secondary device.
This will begin the transfer of conversation histories and additional data.
After then, both smartphones will get WhatsApp messages and calls.
It allows users to access their conversations from a secondary device if their primary device lacks an active internet connection.
The secondary device may also let users manage their “broadcast lists” of saved broadcast message recipients.
According to the source, you will be able to connect up to four devices to a single account.
The primary device used to enrol in WhatsApp must be used to add a new companion device.
Users will only be able to modify their account’s phone number from their principal device.
The feature is available in WhatsApp version 2.23.8.2, which is presently undergoing beta testing, but its presence indicates that it will soon be made available on the Android app.
This unreleased update also enables users to lock their private conversations so that they can only be accessed with biometric information, such as a fingerprint, or a passcode.
As the unreleased update is presently only available through the Google Play Beta Program, testers are only able to use an Android device as a secondary device.
Messages and calls sent or received through the companion device will be end-to-end encrypted, according to the disclosure.
The news comes less than a month after Will Cathcart, the CEO of WhatsApp, stated that he would rather see the app forbidden in the United Kingdom than end-to-end encryption removed.
The Online Safety Bill may outlaw this security feature, which scrambles messages to prevent hackers.
This legislation could mandate technology companies to scan the contents of social media messages for illegal content.
However, doing so would almost certainly require them to reduce or eliminate their security measures.
Since WhatsApp cannot see messages sent through its service, it cannot comply with requests from law enforcement to send them over for anti-terrorism purposes or to identify and remove child abuse content, for example.
Mr. Cathcart stated that undermining the privacy of WhatsApp messages in the United Kingdom would have global repercussions.
He stated, “There is no way to change it in just one part of the world.”
Some nations have chosen to prohibit it; such is the reality of transporting a secure product.
“We were recently barred in Iran, for instance. But we’ve never witnessed a liberal democracy take such a step.
He added, “The reality is that our users across the globe desire security.”
‘Ninety-eight percent of our users are from outside the United Kingdom. They don’t want us to lower product security, and it wouldn’t make sense to do so for 98% of consumers.
In September, Mr. Cathcart criticized the Online Safety Bill, stating that it was ‘puzzling’ that governments desired to undermine security rather than strengthen it.
The British government insisted that the measure “does not prohibit end-to-end encryption” and that “we can and must have both” privacy and child protection.
It also leaves a “gray area” for monitoring encrypted messages.
