The rumours about an iPad app from WhatsApp have been around for a long time – even Meta boss Zuckerberg promised in 2021 that an iPad version of the popular messenger would come “… in two months”. Those two months have turned into almost three years but, last weekend, WhatsApp for iPad was released for beta testing and you can finally get WhatsApp on iPad.
Whatsapp on the iPad can be tested as a beta version
Halyna Kubiv
Downloaded via Test Flight, the app weighs just 224 MB and is very similar to the web or desktop version of WhatsApp. Just like the desktop application, the app uses a much larger iPad screen and displays the latest chats in the chronological list in an additional sidebar.
You can place a WhatsApp widget on the home screen, and there are currently three variants available: with a number badge, and with two- or four recent chats displayed. The developer is apparently planning two more widget variants with the message preview, but these are not yet available.
Your own account is linked by scanning a QR code in the tablet app with your smartphone (as you might to access WhatsApp Web and access your WhatsApp messages on another device). After a short time, your own chats synchronise and you can use the app on the iPad as you would on your phone.
The app makes a good impression and did not crash during our brief testing. However, it is difficult to say when Meta will launch a final version of its popular messenger for iPads in the App Store. The developers’ previous statements were not reliable, but the beta version is a good sign that Meta will release the iPad version in the App Store in the coming weeks.
WhatsApp on the iPad works on all devices that can run iOS 12 and newer, so the requirements are quite low and even older device owners can benefit from it.
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This article originally appeared on our sister publication Macwelt and was translated and adapted from German.
