14 DAY TRIAL // Facebook-owned WhatsApp is working on a new feature that would allow users to activate the same account on multiple devices.
The work on this feature was originally discovered a few months ago, but according to a new report today, the development progresses well and there’s a chance we’d get it in the stable version of WhatsApp rather sooner than later.
The folks over at WABetaInfo reveal that the feature has been updated in the latest beta build for Android, so beginning with the most recent release, WhatsApp displays an encryption key change message when the same account is added to another device.
“Your security code with [contact name] changed because they logged in or out from multiple devices,” the message reads.
Telegram features
Such a feature comes in particularly handy to those who own more than one device where WhatsApp can be used. At this point, WhatsApp allows just one instance of the app per account, which means that when changing phones or devices, you have no other option than to disable the messaging service from the other devices.
Telegram, which is often described as the top alternative to WhatsApp, already features support for multiple devices, so presumably WhatsApp is trying to follow in the footsteps of its competitor.
Another feature that WhatsApp could be borrowing from Telegram is support for self-destructing messages. According to the cited source, the latest beta build of WhatsApp for Android renames the feature to “Expiring Messages” and adds a bunch of new improvements, including an indicator on the profile picture in the chats list to distinguish the conversation with the self-destructing messages from the standard ones.
For the time being, all these features are still in beta, so it’s not known when they could go live for everyone.