WhatsApp will allow attaching a second smartphone to the same user account

WhatsApp already offers multi-device support, both through the WhatsApp Web interface and through the app installed on Android/iOS PCs or tablets. However, you cannot set up WhatsApp on a second smartphone unless you also insert the card with the phone number associated with that account.

For now, you can only use WhatsApp on other devices if they are not smartphones. According to the latest rumours, the platform’s administrators plan to address this limitation by adding the possibility of setting up a smartphone companion, which once confirmed with the main phone will be able to sync chat history and can be used in tandem with it.

For example, setting up a second smartphone using the same WhatsApp account could be useful for those who have a work phone and would like to be able to communicate from either device without having to set up a different identity.

The changes being prepared are already visible in the code of the latest version of the WhatsApp Beta client (v2.22.15.13). Once enhanced with support for multiple phones, the multi-device functionality will ensure real-time synchronization of chat history.

For now, the functionality appears to be in the internal testing stage and cannot be enabled by simply installing the Beta version. We will probably learn more details once the platform administrators are more confident that the new multi-device option will work.