WhatsApp officially rolled out the Companion mode for Android users, allowing linking up to five Android phones to a single account. On November 10, 2016, WhatsApp launched a beta version of two-factor authentication for Android users, which allowed them to use their email addresses for further protection. In November 2023, WhatsApp added a “voice chat” feature for groups with more than 32 members.
In a later update on November 30, WhatsApp added a Secret Code feature, which allows those who use locked chats to enter a unique password that hides those chats from view when unlocking the app. In October 2019, WhatsApp officially launched a new fingerprint app-locking feature for Android users. In December 2023, WhatsApp’s “View Once” feature expanded to include voice messages.
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- Unlike other platforms, WhatsApp requires third-party apps to add Stickers to WhatsApp.
- Unlike messages in groups or private chats, channels are not end-to-end encrypted.
- In August 2021, WhatsApp launched a feature that allows chat history to be transferred between mobile operating systems.
- In March 2019, WhatsApp released a guide for users who had installed unofficial modified versions of WhatsApp and warned that it may ban those using unofficial clients.
- In March 2021, WhatsApp started rolling out support for third-party animated stickers, initially in Iran, Brazil and Indonesia, then worldwide.
- Both Telegram and Signal in particular were reported to get registration spikes during WhatsApp outages and controversies.
There were a series of incidents between 2017 and 2020, after which WhatsApp announced changes for Indian users of the platform that labels forwarded messages as such. In November 2017, WhatsApp implemented a feature giving users seven minutes to delete messages sent by mistake. In November 2025, WhatsApp announced that they would update their About feature, which allows users to add a short message to explain what they are doing. The company also announced plans to implement reactions, the ability for administrators to delete messages in groups and voice calls up to 32 participants.
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Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Sanuj is a tech writer covering smartphones, tablets, and wearables for Tom’s Guide. Enter your secret code, and the chat will move back to the normal conversation list. To remove a chat from this section, long-press it and select Unlock chat.
Koum updated WhatsApp so that everyone in the user’s network would be notified when a user’s status changed. However, when early versions of WhatsApp kept crashing, Koum considered giving up and looking for a new job. Koum named the app WhatsApp to sound like “what’s up” and it was published on the Apple App Store https://pin-up-download.in/ and BlackBerry App World in May and June 2009 respectively. A month earlier, after Koum purchased an iPhone, he and Acton decided to create an app for the App Store. The service was created by WhatsApp Inc. of Mountain View, California, which was acquired by Facebook in February 2014 for approximately US$19.3 billion.
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The messages involved discussing how to make an explosive device and a confession to the attack. According to WhatsApp, the exploit “targeted at least 100 human-rights defenders, journalists and other members of civil society” among a total of 1,400 users in 20 countries. A Wired report noted the attack was able to inject malware via calls to the targeted phone, even if the user did not answer the call. In 2018, it was reported that around 500,000 National Health Service (NHS) staff used WhatsApp and other instant messaging systems at work and around 29,000 had faced disciplinary action for doing so. Further, the Cabinet Office had claimed that since many messages were not relevant to the inquiry, it only needed to hand over material it had selected as being relevant.
- To lock a chat in WhatsApp, long-press the conversation, tap the three-dot menu, and select Lock chat.
- In May 2014, WhatsApp crossed 50 million monthly active users in India, which is also its largest country by the number of monthly active users, then 70 million in October 2014, making users in India 10% of WhatsApp’s total user base.
- In January 2020, WhatsApp reached over 5 billion installs on Google Play Store making it only the second non-Google app to achieve this milestone.
- In April 2011, Sequoia Capital invested about $8 million for more than 15% of the company, after months of negotiation by Sequoia partner Jim Goetz.
In October 2018, the “Swipe to Reply” option was added to the Android beta version, 16 months after it was introduced for iOS. In December 2021, WhatsApp changed the default setting from “everyone” to only people in the user’s contacts or who have been conversed with (“nobody” is also an option). However, the WhatsApp privacy policy does not apply in the EU, since it violates the principles of GDPR.
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In September 2017, WhatsApp’s co-founder Brian Acton left the company to start a nonprofit group, later revealed as the Signal Foundation, which developed the WhatsApp competitor Signal. On May 18, 2017, the European Commission announced that it was fining Facebook €110 million for “providing misleading information about WhatsApp takeover” in 2014. (The word “telegram” appeared in WhatsApp’s code.) Some considered it an anti-competitive measure; WhatsApp offered no explanation. In April 2015, Forbes predicted that between 2012 and 2018, the telecommunications industry would lose $386 billion because of “over-the-top” services like WhatsApp and Skype. He also said that new mobile phones would be sold in Germany with the WhatsApp brand, and that their ultimate goal was to be on all smartphones. Three days after announcing the Facebook purchase, Koum said they were working to introduce voice calls.
Linked devices automatically log out after 14 days of inactivity on the primary phone. As of 2025, the software requires at least Android version 5.0 or iOS version 15.1 respectively. Currently, WhatsApp’s principal platforms, which are fully supported, are devices supporting mobile telephony running Android, and iPhones. By default, it is set to disappear in 24 hours, but it can be set for a longer amount of time and can be restricted for viewing by other contacts in the Settings menu. Users are able to use an avatar as their profile picture or use it for stickers during instant messaging, similar to those offered by Bitmoji or Memoji.
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In July 2021 the company was also testing multi-device support, allowing computer users to run WhatsApp without an active phone session. In January 2015, WhatsApp launched a web client that allowed users to scan a QR code with their mobile app, mirroring their chats to their browser. In November 2024, the ability to transcribe voice messages was added, allowing users to read out what was said in a voice message, rather than listening to the audio. In October 2024, WhatsApp expanded their chat filter feature, adding the ability for users to create custom lists that contain specific chats of their choice. In May 2023, WhatsApp allowed users to edit messages, aligning itself with competitors such as Telegram and Signal which already offered this feature.
In June 2009, when the app had been downloaded by only a handful of Fishman’s Russian-speaking friends, Apple launched push technology, allowing users to be pinged even when not using the app. As of May 2025, the service had 3 billion monthly active users, making it the most used messenger app. WhatsApp (officially WhatsApp Messenger), owned by Meta Platforms, is an American social media, instant messaging (IM), and Voice over IP (VoIP) service accessible via desktop and mobile app. Create a new secret code that’s different from your phone’s passcode and enable biometric access for quicker unlocking. This feature supports only a few languages for now, but WhatsApp says it’s working to expand support to more languages soon.
In March 2021, WhatsApp started rolling out support for third-party animated stickers, initially in Iran, Brazil and Indonesia, then worldwide. Unlike other platforms, WhatsApp requires third-party apps to add Stickers to WhatsApp. Since then, linked devices support has expanded and more information is written in the Platform Support part of this article. In November 2023, WhatsApp also began rolling out support for sending login codes to a linked email address, rather than via SMS. This was implemented only on Samsung phones, with plans to expand to Android and iOS “soon”.
In April 2018, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum announced he would be leaving the company. He also said that the app would not display any third-party ads, and that it would have new features such as the ability to communicate with businesses. The acquisition was influenced by the data provided by Onavo, Facebook’s research app for monitoring competitors and trending usage of social activities on mobile phones, as well as startups that were performing “unusually well”. Days after the announcement, WhatsApp users experienced a loss of service, leading to anger across social media. By February 2013, WhatsApp had about 200 million active users and 50 staff members.
The WebView2-based app has been criticised for its sluggish performance, high RAM usage, and requirement to keep the app running in the background to receive push notifications, compared to the previous native version. In July 2025, WhatsApp stopped developing the Windows UWP-based app due to poor support and deprecation of the UWP framework by Microsoft. In 2023, WhatsApp replaced the Electron-based apps with native versions for their respective platforms. Similar to the WhatsApp Web format, the app, which synchronises with a user’s mobile device, is available for download on the website. Previously the WhatsApp user’s handset had to be connected to the Internet for the browser application to function but as of an update in October 2021 (and integrated by default in WhatsApp as of April 2022) that is no longer the case.
WhatsApp has repeatedly imposed limits on message forwarding in response to the spread of misinformation in countries including India and Australia. After financial regulators in many regions raised concerns, Facebook stated that the currency, renamed Diem since December 2020, would require a government-issued ID for verification, and the wallet app would have fraud protection. This “Facebook coin” would reportedly be a stablecoin pegged to the value of a basket of different foreign currencies. The project reportedly involved more than 50 engineers under the direction of former PayPal president David A. Marcus. On February 28, 2019, The New York Times reported that Facebook was “hoping to succeed where Bitcoin failed” by developing an in-house cryptocurrency that would be incorporated into WhatsApp. WhatsApp Payments (marketed as WhatsApp Pay) is a peer-to-peer money transfer feature.
WhatsApp has been officially supported for iPads and its iPadOS since May 27, 2025. The Windows version is based on UWP while the Mac version is a port of the iOS version using Catalyst technology. Later on, it also added support for iOS, Nokia Series 40, and Nokia S60 (Symbian). Originally it was required for the primary phone to keep an online connection to WhatsApp for linked devices to work, but now WhatsApp can run on linked devices without such requirement. Linked devices allow the service to be used on multiple other platforms like desktop computers and smartwatches (e.g. WhatsApp Web, Facebook Portal), but also on other smartphones (called companions).
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