The new WhatsApp multi-device feature is here, you can now use WhatsApp desktop or web experiences even when your phone isn’t active and connected to the internet. All secured with end-to-end encryption.
Yes, WhatsApp has finally announced a feature that brings multi-device support to users. Leaks suggested that the Facebook-owned company had been working on the feature for a while and now, testing for multi-device support that will allow users to connect up to four devices including WhatsApp Web, WhatsApp Desktop and Facebook Portal are underway.
In the past, users could still connect to other devices but would need to have their phones connected to the internet all the time, this will no longer be the case.
With this new capability, you can now use WhatsApp on your phone and up to four other phone devices simultaneously — even if your phone battery is dead. Each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp independently while maintaining the same level of privacy and security through end-to-end encryption that people who use WhatsApp have come to expect.
WhatsApp Multi-Device Support Safety
WhatsApp says they have developed new technologies to maintain end-to-end encryption while still managing to sync your data — such as contact names, chat archives, starred messages, and more — across devices
“When people message each other in a one-on-one chat, a pairwise encrypted session is established between each of the sender’s and recipient’s devices. WhatsApp multi-device uses a client-fanout approach, where the WhatsApp client sending the message encrypts and transmits it N number of times to N number of different devices — those in the sender and receiver’s device lists. Each message is individually encrypted using the established pairwise encryption session with each device. Messages are not stored on the server after they are delivered. For groups, we still use the same scalable Sender Key encryption scheme from the Signal Protocol.” WhatsApp says in a statement.
For this to work, WhatsApp servers will now securely store a copy of each of your application state that all of your devices can access. To properly secure this, all the information, and even the metadata about the information (what kind of user data is stored or accessed), is end-to-end encrypted with constantly changing keys known only to that person’s devices.
WhatsApp says that it does not have a specific date for the final release of the new multi-device support for all users, but the company has begun testing it among a limited number of users that are running the latest beta versions of WhatsApp for iOS and Android.
