WhatsApp App Support Rolled Out For Apple Watch Users: Compatible Devices, New Features, More

Meta-owned WhatsApp has officially launched a dedicated companion app for Apple Watch. Announced by Meta, the update allows users to handle notifications, read messages, and respond to chats without ever pulling out their iPhone. This debut underscores WhatsApp's growing emphasis on the Apple ecosystem, following a recent iPad app rollout earlier this year.

The Apple Watch WhatsApp app brings a host of new features:

- Call Notifications: Stay alerted to incoming calls right on your wrist.

- Full Message Viewing: Read entire conversations, including lengthy texts, without truncation.

- Quick Replies: Compose and send text messages directly from the watch.

- Voice Notes: Record and dispatch voice messages on the fly.

- Emoji Reactions: Tap to react to messages with emojis for speedy engagement.

- Enhanced Media: View sharper images and stickers for a richer visual experience.

- Chat History Access: Dive deeper into past conversations with expanded history support.

Meta notes that the app maintains WhatsApp's hallmark end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls, ensuring privacy remains intact. However, it stops short of supporting voice or video calls, creating new chats, or viewing status updates, features that may arrive in future iterations.

Compared to competitors like Snapchat's existing Apple Watch integration (which handles notifications, typing, and voice notes but lacks full chat history or image viewing), WhatsApp's offering feels more comprehensive for everyday use.

WhatsApp Apple Watch Compatibility

To get started, your setup needs to meet these specs:

- Apple Watch Series 4 model or later.

- Software: watchOS 10 or higher.

- Paired Device: An iPhone running the latest WhatsApp version for seamless syncing.

This ensures broad accessibility for most modern Apple Watch owners, though older models will miss out.

WhatsApp Apple Watch Rollout Timeline

The app rolled out globally and is now available via the App Store on compatible watches. Meta describes this as 'just the start,' with plans to refine and expand based on user feedback in the coming months. Expect iterative updates to address gaps like call functionality, potentially aligning with broader watchOS enhancements.

Several users are also reporting of app crash on Apple Watch SE models. Meta is likley to issue a fix for that soon.

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