WhatsApp is easily one of the most popular encrypted messaging apps out there. Parent company Meta regularly adds new features and capabilities to the app, and while we have to give WhatsApp credit for staying competitive with rivals like Telegram, problems like half-baked missed call alerts are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to issues the platform still struggles with. Maybe one of the most annoying there concerns how multi-device connectivity works, and close to two years after we first got it, linked and primary devices still don’t enjoy feature parity.

WhatsApp multi-device: A quick walkthrough

If you aren’t a regular WhatsApp user, or have been living under a rock, its multi-device support allows you to access one user account even as you jump between hardware. You have one primary device, which must be a smartphone, and up to four additional devices — though for the most part, those are limited to computers. Since early 2022, each linked device lets you access your account, even when the primary smartphone is offline. Registered beta testers can even go the extra mile and set up another smartphone or tablet as one of the four linked devices, with no painstaking workarounds. I’m a member of this now-closed beta program, and this is where the woes begin.

WhatsApp-Multi-Device-new-architechture
Source: Meta

Adding new contacts is easy (Terms and conditions apply)

WhatsApp doesn’t let you start new conversations with unsaved phone numbers. As a result, I often save people’s contact details on my Pixel 7 using the Google dialer or the Contacts app, and then return to WhatsApp. However, looking up the freshly saved contact name using the in-app search function or the new chat button is an exercise in futility, because I have the Pixel 7 configured as a linked smartphone. The experience is the same on desktop and other linked devices — WhatsApp doesn’t allow initiating conversations with newly saved phone numbers.

Even if I have Google’s contact sync enabled across my Pixel 7 and primary phone (a Xiaomi Mi 11X), I’m forced to whip out the latter and send the new contact a “Hi” or “Hello.” Magically, the messages sync and the chat appears on my Pixel 7 and linked devices, with contact name, chat history, and everything. If you’re like me, who just cannot wait for contact sync, you may end up creating duplicate contacts, which are going to be a pain to clean up later.

It's easy enough to see how this oversight in WhatsApp contact sync can backfire in royal fashion. Imagine leaving for a social gathering with only your linked smartphone/tablet in tow, only to realize you’re now going to have to remember to message all those new contacts after you get home to the primary device. Even worse, you may lose potential contacts as you try to juggle between your two phones.

Surely, contact cards can help

Sometimes existing contacts helpfully send you an acquaintance’s contact card on WhatsApp, which ideally has two buttons: one to message them on WhatsApp right away, and another to add them to your contacts. However, those options only show up on your main phone, while a linked device can only use the message option under the contact card. Pulling up a detailed view of the contact card also doesn’t present any option to add those details to your addressbook. Matters are worse on desktop, where you have to click the contact card to reveal the message option. Otherwise, there’s no quick action buttons there.

Quick actions under a contact card on primary smartphone; No 'Add contact' option on a linked smartphone; Chat with unsaved contact has no 'Add contact' option; Clicking a contact card on desktop

Let's say you tap the message button and start a chat with the new contact. WhatsApp has also omitted the 'Add contacts' option in the chat itself. We understand most people wouldn’t save contacts on desktop, but there’s no reason to omit this critical feature when rolling out smartphone support in WhatsApp multi-device. There appears to be no easy workaround for saving contacts on a linked smartphone such that they show up on WhatsApp in a hurry.

Status updates: Write access denied

Contact-saving woes aside, I was excited to set up my Pixel 7 as a linked smartphone for my WhatsApp account. The phone is acclaimed for its imaging prowess, and I planned to upload a few Pixel-shot photos as WhatsApp status updates. Tough luck; you aren’t allowed to post statuses from any of your four linked devices. Yes, that includes webcam selfies from your computer.

Status update + icon seen on primary phone (left) is absent on linked smartphone and desktop

I can view status updates from my contacts, reply, and react to them with emoji from all devices. However, WhatsApp forces me to use Nearby Share or the messaging app’s self-messaging feature to transfer a photo from the Pixel to my Mi 11X, and then upload it as a status update. The option to share an image as a status doesn’t even show up in the WhatsApp Camera or share sheet.

Funnily enough, I can monitor the view count and see my status updates on the Pixel 7 (and other linked devices) once I’m done jumping through the hoops to upload it. Needless to say, this entire process rapidly dulled my enthusiasm to share status updates from my Pixel. Inexplicably, you must have your primary smartphone around to post status updates on WhatsApp.

Texts, with a lingering aftertaste

After this string of disappointments, I was thankful that at least messaging existing contacts was working with WhatsApp multi-device, even if just barely. Much like duplicate missed call alerts, notifications for messages you read on one device don’t disappear on others logged into the same account until you unlock them and open WhatsApp.

Perhaps on smartphones, this phenomenon is tied to Android’s battery-saving process-killing tendencies, and WhatsApp doesn’t get to sync data until we reopen the app. That doesn’t explain why WhatsApp for desktop displays read chats as unread ones for several moments before it syncs chat data from the servers. I’ve also seen desktop notifications for texts I read just moments ago on my phone.

Maybe we're nitpicking at this point, but anyone with a slower internet connection could very well pull up a chat they already responded to, and start typing out a second response while chat history syncs. Our internet speeds aren’t in Meta’s control, but perhaps waiting for message sync before sending push notifications on desktop would be a good starting point for WhatsApp.

Fix features before adding new ones, please

We fully understand that smartphone support for multi-device is still in beta, and bugs are to be expected, but almost one year has rolled by and there’s no relief from the sore lack of what can be considered core features. WhatsApp is a long way from achieving parity across linked devices on different operating systems, and between the linked and primary phones.

It almost feels like the devs behind implementing linked devices were oblivious to the app’s core features on the primary phone. Hopefully, Meta shifts focus from new feature additions to resolving these issues before it rolls out secondary smartphone support for WhatsApp multi-device in the stable channel, because right now, things are just way too buggy and unintuitive.