WhatsApp's New Multidevice Feature Should Be Copied by Apple's iMessage – CNET

WhatsApp’s new multidevice features are rolling out to public release. James Martin/CNET WhatsApp’s new multidevice feature, previously in beta and now rolling out to the public over the next several months, makes it much easier to text friends and family from nearly any device with a few tweaks to how WhatsApp’s web and desktop apps work. The result preserves much of the encryption and security that WhatsApp is known for, while also creating a cross-platform texting experience that reminds me of using iMessage across Mac and an iPhone — but without the requirement of being stuck on just Apple’s devices.WhatsApp’s desktop apps are not new, to be clear. However, they previously required a constant connection with your phone in order to function. If your phone powered off or was temporarily lost, you essentially couldn’t access your texts at all. Other Meta-owned services like Messenger don’t have this limitation, but at the cost to your privacy of not having end-to-end encryption on by default.WhatsApp now lets you pick as many as four devices aside from your phone that can send and receive WhatsApp messages. You set up these devices by scanning a QR code generated on WhatsApp’s website or desktop app…
Read More