O WhatsApp is testing a new feature that will allow, for the first time, people to send messages without having to use a cell phone.
Currently, the WhatsApp is linked to the user’s phone. Your desktop and web apps need your device to be connected to receive messages.
But the new feature will allow users to send and receive messages “even if the phone’s battery runs out,” the company said.
Up to four other devices — such as PCs and tablets — can be used together, WhatsApp said.
For starters, the new feature will be released as a beta test for a “small group of users”, and the team plans to improve its performance and add features before enabling it for everyone.
End-to-end encryption—WhatsApp’s key “advertising” point—will still work with this new system, the company said.
Several other messaging apps already have this feature, including the rival encrypted Signal app, which requires a phone to sign up but not to exchange messages.
The feature has long been claimed by WhatsApp users, used by nearly two billion people worldwide, according to the company.
‘Rethink’ WhatsApp software design
In a blog post announcing the move, Facebook engineers said the WhatsApp software design needed to be “rethought” to accommodate it.
That’s because the current version “uses a smartphone app as the primary device, making the phone the source for all user data and the only device capable of encrypting end-to-end messages for another user [ou] initiate calls,” according to the company.
WhatsApp Web and other apps are essentially a “mirror” of what happens on the phone.
But this system has significant drawbacks familiar to many regular users, as the web application is known to disconnect frequently.
It also means that only one so-called “add-on application” can be active at a time – so loading WhatsApp on another device disconnects a WhatsApp web window.
“The new multi-device WhatsApp architecture removes these obstacles, no longer requiring a smartphone to be the primary source, while still keeping user data private and securely synchronized,” the company said.
Technically, the solution was to give each device its own “identity key”. WhatsApp keeps track of which keys belong to the same user account. This means that the platform does not need to store messages on its own server, which can lead to privacy issues.
But for Jake Moore, security expert at antivirus company Eset, no matter how robust the security, having messages on more devices can still be a concern.
“There will always be a malicious actor looking to create a new way to invade,” he said.
“Abusives and ‘stalkers’ can now use this new feature to their advantage, creating additional endpoints to capture any private synchronized communication.”
He also said that social engineering is an “increasing” threat and that it is the user’s responsibility to be on the lookout for possible misuse.
“Therefore, it is vital that people know all the devices that are connected to their account,” he warned.
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