WhatsApp Web Will Soon Work Without a Connected Phone

WhatsApp testing new functionality in the latest beta build

We’ve known for a while that WhatsApp was planning to bring multi-device support to its service, and now it looks like the work in this regard advances fast.

First of all, what’s the multi-device support and how does it work?

Theoretically, with this new feature, WhatsApp would allow users to enable the messaging app on more than one device using just a phone number. In other words, WhatsApp can be active on more devices at the same time, even though theoretically, only one phone number is being used.

This is similar to how the whole thing works on Telegram, which can also be enabled on multiple devices and even on the desktop.

And it looks like WhatsApp uses its rival’s idea as a way to improve the service, as the company wants to bring such capabilities to its web interface.

Beta improvements

The latest Android beta build reportedly paves the way for a WhatsApp Web update that would allow users to chat with their contacts without having a connected phone.

“You don’t need to keep your phone connected to use WhatsApp on web, desktop and Portal. Up to four devices can be used at once,” a notification that is shown in the latest beta build reads. “These features are not supported with this version of the beta but will be available soon: archiving and muting chats from a companion devices, deleting messages and chats from a companion device, calling from WhatsApp on the desktop.”

At this point, this new feature doesn’t yet have an ETA, but there’s a chance it’s supposed to launch later this year. Needless to say, this would be quite a big update for WhatsApp, as it would come in handy especially to those who want to be logged in on devices running different operating systems with the same phone number.