I wish Signal would enable this.
WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
21–30 of 37 posts
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#22This is amazing news!
Our phones now have so much critical stuff that being able to have a backup for more dangerous situations without losing contact with everyone is very important.
In dangerous places like Brazil, it stresses me to no end to go to some places or events (concerts, football matches, street fairs and events) with my phone that has all my banking information, email, access to my files, etc.
Currently the only thing that really prevents me from just using an old backup phone for this is that you can't have WhatsApp in 2 phones, so you end up having to resort to "ancient" (just kidding) ways like calls and SMS. Unfortunately, a lot of people (at least in Latin America or from here) basically only use WhatsApp nowadays.
My current solution was to have a second SIM card with a second WhatsApp account, which at least allowed me to message people in my contact list. With the amount of scams, though, a lot of my friends do not trust this unless I personally meet then and tell them to add the second contact.
Might seem like a small issue, but for me this will be a huge help. I leave my phone with all those annoying apps that use it as 2FA, banks and everything in hour and use a strip down version to go around.
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#23For some reason, certainly not technical, they are still not allowing multiple numbers on the same device, with the same ease I can switch accounts on instagram, for example. (web vs app workaround are clearly not the right way to go) And, honestly, if bots and spam is what they were really worried about, allowing "two numbers" instead of just one would already be plenty for 99.999% of people that would gladly avoid…
You can provision a Work profile on Android using Island (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.oasisfeng....) and install two instances of WhatsApp. Although, this does require the second SIM also on the same phone.
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#24I wish Signal would enable this.
The article says (emphasis mine):
> WhatsApp users are getting a long-requested feature: access to the same account across multiple cellphones.
This has been supported by Signal for years by linking devices. You can have the same Signal account on the primary phone (the one you verified through SMS OTP), a tablet and/or a desktop or other device. Messages (and message read statuses) get synced across devices.
Open Signal, go to Settings, then to “Linked Devices” and then choose “Link a New Device” to set it up. And unlike the previous WhatsApp desktop solution, Signal doesn’t (and did not) have the requirement to have the primary phone close by to act as a proxy. You can leave your primary phone anywhere (like on some other network or offline) and still have the linked devices work fine.
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#25With your data and metadata still flowing through Meta. No thanks. Multi-phone is a nice feature though, it's something I like about Telegram, Wire, and Session. It would be nice if Signal had this feature but I would prefer accounts without a telephone number or email address (like Session) first.
Signal has had this feature (linking the same account in multiple devices) for years. I’ve added more details in a reply to another comment on this post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35729024
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my phone I can go to Settings->Apps->Dual Apps and enable WhatsApp. This creates a clone of the app, which can be registered with a second number. When you open WhattsApp you can select which of the two you want to open. Have been using this for probably 2+ years now...
> In my phone I can go to Settings->Apps->Dual Apps and enable WhatsApp. Is that specific to some Android device manufacturer? I have a dual SIM Android phone with two SIMs, and I don't see that option.
It's there in Xiaomi and a few others. It essentially creates a separate sandboxed space for the entire phone. Apps, settings, themes, everything is isolated. Both the SIMs are accessible in either space.
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#27For some reason, certainly not technical, they are still not allowing multiple numbers on the same device, with the same ease I can switch accounts on instagram, for example. (web vs app workaround are clearly not the right way to go) And, honestly, if bots and spam is what they were really worried about, allowing "two numbers" instead of just one would already be plenty for 99.999% of people that would gladly avoid…
On Samsung phones you can clone the app with a few taps which gives you the same functionality. Still annoying though.
The Dual Messenger is a great feature, in addition to the business version. IIRC, you can also have separate instances running in the secure folder too.
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
In my phone I can go to Settings->Apps->Dual Apps and enable WhatsApp. This creates a clone of the app, which can be registered with a second number. When you open WhattsApp you can select which of the two you want to open. Have been using this for probably 2+ years now...
> In my phone I can go to Settings->Apps->Dual Apps and enable WhatsApp. Is that specific to some Android device manufacturer? I have a dual SIM Android phone with two SIMs, and I don't see that option.
It is specific to mostly non-Google OEMs.
On Pixel phones and other devices which don't support Dual Apps, you can create a "Work Profile". It is a completely isolated section of your phone and you can install another copy of Whatsapp by opening the playstore in your work profile.
https://support.google.com/work/android/answer/6191949?hl=en
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#29I wish Signal would enable this.
The article says (emphasis mine): > WhatsApp users are getting a long-requested feature: access to the same account across multiple cellphones. This has been supported by Signal for years by linking devices. You can have the same Signal account on the primary phone (the one you verified through SMS OTP), a tablet and/or a desktop or other device. Messages (and message read statuses) get synced across devices. Open Si…
Unfortunately while Signal does support multiple devices, it does not in fact support multiple phones: https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/360007320551-Li...
Apart from the primary phone, the remaining linked devices cannot be a phone. I eagerly wish this was possible.
Re: WhatsApp on multiple phones feature added
#30For some reason, certainly not technical, they are still not allowing multiple numbers on the same device, with the same ease I can switch accounts on instagram, for example. (web vs app workaround are clearly not the right way to go) And, honestly, if bots and spam is what they were really worried about, allowing "two numbers" instead of just one would already be plenty for 99.999% of people that would gladly avoid…
> allowing "two numbers" instead of just one would already be plenty for 99.999% of people
I expect they already have a solution that is plenty for 99.999% of people.