WhatsApp is testing a replacement feature that will let people message without using their phone for the primary time.
At present, WhatsApp is linked to a user s phone. It’s desktop and web apps need that device to be connected and receiving messages.
But the new feature will let users send and receive messages “even if your phone battery is dead”.
Up to four other devices – like PCs and tablets – are often used together, WhatsApp said.
To begin with, the new feature is going to be unrolled as a trial for a “small group of users”, and therefore the team plans to enhance performance and add features before enabling it for everybody.
End-to-end encryption – a key point for WhatsApp – will still work under this new system, it said.
Several other messaging apps have already got such a feature, including rival encrypted app Signal, which needs a phone for sign-up but to not exchange messages.
