WhatsApp works across mobile and desktop even on slow connections, with no subscription fees*. It’s simple, reliable, and private, so you can easily keep in touch with your friends and family. It’s used by over 2B people in more than 180 countries.
Web whatsapp how to#
Update: Text corrected to reflect that the new look will be on the mobile apps (not the web) aimed at improving how to manage linked devices.WhatsApp from Facebook is a FREE messaging and video calling app. But in the interest of that feature parity, in future, it will be interesting to see how and if biometrics might appear as those other features get rolled out beyond mobile, too. Yes, this new biometric feature is being rolled out today to create a more secure way for people to link up apps across devices. Consider how the company has been adding a lot more features and functionality into WhatsApp, including the ability to pay for goods and services, and in markets like India, tests to offer insurance and pension products. WhatsApp is pretty clear in outlining that it’s not able to access the biometric information that you will be storing in your device, and that it is using the same standard biometric authentication APIs that other secure apps, like banking apps, use.īut the banking app parallel is notable here, and maybe one worth thinking about more. Over the years, of course, that view has been eroded through data leaks, group messaging abuse, and (yes) changes in privacy terms.Īll that means there will likely be a lot of people who will doubt what Facebook’s intentions are here, too. It’s a particularly sensitive issue since messaging has been thought of a very personal and sometimes private space, seen as separate from what people do on more open social networking platforms. WhatsApp’s recent announcement (and walk back) regarding data-sharing changes between it and Facebook have put a lot of people on edge about the company’s intentions.Īnd that’s no surprise.
(That feature may be one coming soon: last month, it started to get spotted in beta tests.) What comes next for biometrics? For example, you can’t make calls on the WhatsApp web version. WhatsApp told TechCrunch that it is going to be adding in more features this year to bring the desktop and mobile experiences closer together. Mobile still accounts for the majority of WhatsApp’s users, but events like global health pandemics, which are keeping more of us inside, are likely leading to a surge of users of its Web and native desktop apps, and so it makes sense for it to be adding more functionality there.
While WhatsApp started as a mobile messaging app, it has over the years been building out other ways of using it, for example adding desktop support in 2015 to the iOS version. The service is another step forward in WhatsApp creating more feature parity between its flagship mobile apps and how you interact with the service when you use it elsewhere.
Web whatsapp full#
The full instructions for how to turn it on are here. WhatsApp says that on iPhone, it will work with all devices operating iOS 14 and above with Touch ID or Face ID, while on Android, it will work on any device compatible with Biometric Authentication (Face Unlock, Fingerprint Unlock or Iris Unlock).
Web whatsapp code#
The QR code doesn’t go away this is a second step users will need to take, similar to how you can choose to implement two steps of authentication on a handset to use the WhatsApp mobile app today.
When implemented, it will appear for users before a desktop or web version can be linked up with a mobile app account, which today relies just on using a QR code.
It works only if you’ve enabled biometric authentications on your device: it doesn’t if you have not.
Web whatsapp android#
With the new feature, you will now be able to add in a biometric login, which uses either a fingerprint, face ID, or iris ID - depending on the device - on Android or iPhone handsets, to add in a second layer of authentication.