WhatsApp is finally rolling out multi-device login support for more than one phone.
Mark Zuckerberg announced the rollout of the feature on Facebook and Instagram.
“Starting today, you can log into the same WhatsApp account on up to four phones,” he said.
WhatsApp said this feature will roll out to all users in the coming weeks.
Until now, users could only use one WhatsApp account on one phone and multiple associated desktop devices.
With the new rollout, users’ messages will be synced across devices, including other phones. So even if one device is disabled, they can access the app on other devices.
WhatsApp is one of the largest messaging services out there with over 2 billion users. But it lacked multi-phone support until now due to full end-to-end encryption support for chats and calls.
The company began testing cross-device compatibility with select beta users in 2021. At the time, Meta (known as Facebook at the time) said it had developed new technology to sync messages between devices while maintaining end-to-end encryption protection.
Other competitors such as Telegram and Messenger offered multidevice synchronization for messages, but they did not support end-to-end encryption.
In 2022, WhatsApp started making cross-device features available to everyone. But it didn’t support multiple phones.
WhatsApp is also rolling out a new way to pair devices with a one-time code.
“You can now get a one-time code by entering your mobile number on WhatsApp Web, which allows you to pair devices instead of scanning the QR code on your mobile phone. We will make this feature available to more connected devices in the future,” the company said in a blog post.