One of the bigger limitations WhatsApp users have been dealing concerns the service's multi-device support. WhatsApp has both a web version and apps that can be downloaded for Windows and macOS, but the way it works right now, those connect straight to your main device and depend on it to be online to function correctly. Proper multi-device support for WhatsApp has been in the works for some time, with a public beta allowing some people to try it out ahead of the stable release. If you don't want to mess around with betas, we've got some good news, as it looks like we're getting closer to a stable rollout.

WhatsApp beta 2.21.23.10 implements a small but important change, as pointed out by WABetaInfo: it's the first version to force users into multi-device. At least, that's what some users are facing, as the service still limits who can join the multi-device beta in the first place.

Once the update is installed on your phone, the app will log out your existing devices from WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp Desktop, and ask you to link them again using the new multi-device mode, which will let you use WhatsApp on any computer regardless of whether your main phone is actually online or not.

What's more, users who are getting this don't have the option to leave the multi-device beta anymore. If you've already enrolled in it, there's the chance you already can't leave it anyway, even if you're on a stable version of WhatsApp. I checked my own WhatsApp settings (I'm running stable) and found that the button for leaving the beta has disappeared from my app.

The stable version of WhatsApp is not yet forcing this change on users — at most, they'll get a prompt asking if they want to enable the multi-device beta manually.

If you haven't gotten multi-device yet on your device and your phone doesn't have show option to enable it, see if updating to the latest WhatsApp beta will do the trick, or download the APK to your device.