It’s been more than a year since we first heard that an official WhatsApp iPad app was in the works – along with a Mac one too – but it has so far come to nothing. A new report today may explain this.
We recently explained the rather messy situation with Mac and iPad apps …
It is currently possible to use WhatsApp for Mac, but it is not ideal. The app cannot be used on its own, and requires a wireless connection to your phone. All messages, incoming and outgoing, are forwarded through your iPhone.
The situation is even worse on the iPad. There is no official WhatsApp app at all, which requires us to use third parties who perform the same relaying trick via a web based API (I use Messages for WhatsApp on iPad).
And the iPhone app can only transfer to one device at a time, so you can’t use it on your iPad and Mac at the same time.
It is this need for forwarding via the web or the phone that the company is apparently addressing now, according to a new report from WABetaInfo. There’s a one-time sync process, and then all future messages are sent to all your devices, just like Apple’s iMessage service.
WhatsApp is working on the ability to use the same account on different devices. Actually, they are testing the feature to work with 4 devices simultaneously.
If the user wants to use WhatsApp on a second device, there is the need to copy the chat history. In this case, WhatsApp always requires a Wi-Fi connection, as it can use a large amount of your data plan
Once WhatsApp has securely copied the chat history to the second device, it will finally be possible to use your account from there. Keep in mind that every message is delivered to all your family devices, so your chat history will always be in sync.
WhatsApp has also developed an iPad app, which will be released after activating the feature so that you can use WhatsApp on your iPhone and your iPad at the same time.
There is one question mark left, but one that will not affect this all-in-one impact on the Apple ecosystem: whether you can perform the initial synchronization between iOS and Android devices, for those who have a mix of ‘ e two use. The two platforms currently have different database structures, which provides a barrier to synchronization. However, WABetaInfo says the company is working on converting the iOS format to fit the Android one, to enable cross-platform synchronization.
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