With the Multi-Device feature, you can also use WhatsApp on PCs and other devices, via a browser, without your phone being connected to the Internet.
The new version 2.21.1.1 of WhatsApp for Android, the first update of the instant messaging app in 2021, has been released on the Google Play Beta Program. The update of the smartphone app is a further step towards the introduction of a long-awaited feature: WhatsApp Multi-Device.
That is, the ability to use WhatsApp on multiple devices simultaneously, without the first one necessarily having to be connected to the Internet. Already today you can use WhatsApp from your phone and browser, simultaneously, using WhatsApp Web. Just connect the account from the mobile app by framing a QR code and you are immediately able to use WhatsApp on the big screen of a computer, with mouse and keyboard. At the moment, however, you need your main cell phone to be connected to the Internet otherwise WhatsApp Web can't work. Multi-Device serves precisely to overcome this limitation, allowing us to use WhatsApp Web even if there is no connection on the smartphone (or if it is turned off).
WhatsApp Multi-Device: how it works
The Multi-Device feature of WhatsApp comes and goes from beta versions for several months, because it is still in the testing phase. It's also present in the latest version 2.21.1.1 of WhatsApp for Android but it hasn't been activated yet.
The news, however, is that the WhatsApp Web Beta program is also starting and some users will soon be enabled to join the program to test Multi-Device from WhatsApp Web without the smartphone app being connected.
Now when a user already participating in WhatsApp's testing program tries to connect a new device, via the appropriate function for WhatsApp Web within the app, they will see a new option to join the WhatsApp Web beta program as well.
WhatsApp: the new privacy terms
The version 2.21.1.1 of WhatsApp for Android also requires the user to accept the new privacy policy, which will become standard for everyone (even non-beta users) starting February 8, 2021.
The new privacy terms on WhatsApp do not change the user experience, nor the encryption applied to chats. They do, however, slightly change how WhatsApp processes our data and how third parties can access it.
Our data remains anonymous, but companies will most likely be able to profile us better to send us messages via WhatsApp Business. The certainty on this aspect, however, we can only have it when WhatsApp offers everyone to accept the new, and final, privacy policy.