For an astonishing 15 years, there was no official iPad app for WhatsApp: tablet owners had to make do with one of several workarounds, such as running WhatsApp for the web in a browser. But last year Meta finally got round to releasing one.
While this was a welcome development, one limitation was that users still had to have access to a smartphone during setup. After installation on the iPad, a prompt appeared with a QR code; this had to be scanned by a phone which was already linked to the WhatsApp account. But that is no longer the case.
Meta has announced a raft of new features for WhatsApp, and these include the ability to sign up to WhatsApp directly on an iPad, without a smartphone becoming involved in any way. You’ll still need a phone number to create an account, but the registration process takes place fully on the tablet.
“Since we announced WhatsApp for iPad last year,” the post explains, “one of the biggest things we’ve heard from people is that they want to be able to create a WhatsApp account directly on their iPad, without needing to link to their phone. Now you can. Register for WhatsApp directly on the iPad app, set up your account, and you’re in.”
Aside from iPad signups, WhatsApp for CarPlay is getting a redesign, and you can share songs on Apple Music to your WhatsApp status. There’s also a new feature that lets you open and edit PDFs in the web and desktop versions of WhatsApp.
At the end of the post, Meta says the features are rolling out now, so if you’re not seeing them yet, they should be along soon.
