WhatsApp plans a native iPad app for the first time

WhatsApp has been busy in recent months, releasing a slew of updates to its massively popular messaging service. Recent upgrades have featured joinable calls, an easier method to switch between Android and iPhone, and the introduction of multi-device compatibility, which allows conversations/chats to be migrated on a variety of devices without the use of a smartphone.

In July, Whatsapp stated that it was working on next-generation encryption that would allow for genuine multi-device connections without the need for a smartphone connection. As part of it, it appears like WhatsApp is working on a fully native iPad app. A need for users to set up the service using a phone as the “main” device for an account is part of WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption system.

This follows a recent statement that will finally allow chats to be migrated between Android and iOS.

The native app might soon be accessible on the iPad and other Android tablets, according to recent tweets from WABetaInfo, which looks at beta versions of the program and tries to detect impending updates that make it to the public.

On the one hand, many people who have been using the app for years appear to have grown accustomed to the program not being available on tablets — yet multi-device support appears to be the right moment to make WhatsApp operate on additional gadgets.

RELATED: Transfer your chats from iOS to Android on WhatsApp

The tweets emphasize that these are presumably native WhatsApp apps rather than web apps. Users will be able to use these tablets as “connected devices” to a WhatsApp account for the first time, a first for the service.

• Is WhatsApp for iPad a web app? No, it's a native app!
• Will WhatsApp for iPad work independently? Yes.
• Is WhatsApp for iPad already available? No.
• WhatsApp beta for iPad? If you have WhatsApp beta for iOS, you will automatically have the iPad version in the future. https://t.co/aQYBBtW7Sb

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) August 21, 2021

There’s no indication on when this app and integration will be available; according to the WABetaInfo account, it’s in the works and will be published in a “future update.” However, if you already have the WhatsApp for iOS beta, you will also have access to the iPad version.