WhatsApp's Multidevice Feature Could Teach Apple's iMessage Some New Tricks

WhatsApp's Multidevice Feature Could Teach Apple's iMessage Some New Tricks

Your phone doesn't need to be working to access texts on WhatsApps. Thanks to the web and desktop app's new Linked Devices feature, previously in beta and rolling out to the public over the next several months, you can get faster access to chats from nearly any computer or tablet you choose, while preserving much of the encryption and security that the app is known for. WhatsApps newest feature creates a cross-platform texting experience that reminds me of using iMessage across Mac and an iPhone -- but without the requirement of being stuck on just Apple's devices.

WhatsApp's desktop apps are not new, to be clear. However, they previously required a constant connection with your phone in order to function. If your phone powered off or was temporarily lost, you essentially couldn't access your texts at all. Other Meta-owned services like Messenger don't have this limitation, but at the cost to your privacy of not having end-to-end encryption on by default.

WhatsApp now lets you pick as many as four devices aside from your phone that can send and receive WhatsApp messages. You set up these devices by scanning a QR code generated on WhatsApp's website or desktop app with the WhatsApp app on your phone, and after that they're listed as "Linked Devices" within your account. From that point on, that browser or desktop app will be able to access your WhatsApp texts regardless of whether your phone is around. In addition to that flexibility, I also found WhatsApp would simply boot up much faster across the devices I tested, which include my work Mac, a Chromebook and an iPad.

I wouldn't call WhatsApp's multidevice system perfect yet, and other messaging apps like Signal and Telegram do offer similar solutions, so let's go over a few more of the ins and outs for WhatsApp's particular multidevice setup.

When your WhatsApp account receives the new linked devices feature, you'll receive a message similar to this one.
WhatsApp

Works on nearly any device, but not nearly every feature

The best part of the new WhatsApp multidevice launch is speed. As I outlined earlier, I can flip back and forth between different devices across several operating systems, and keep up with group chats or quick texts seamlessly. However, some features like video and voice calling only work on WhatsApp's Windows, MacOS and mobile apps. The web version that I use on my Chromebook and iPad don't have access to those calling features.

You can access linked devices within WhatsApp's settings.

Screenshot by Mike Sorrentino/CNET

WhatsApp also spells out other omissions that linked devices don't yet support, which include clearing or deleting chats from a linked device if you use WhatsApp on an iPhone and viewing live location.

And even though a linked device won't need a connection to your phone, the new WhatsApp feature still requires a phone in order to get started. During setup, your phone will send your device a copy of your most recent message history.

Linked devices also rely on your phone using WhatsApp in order to stay logged in. If you don't log in to WhatsApp for 14 days from your phone -- whether because you lost the phone or perhaps you only use WhatsApp very occasionally for specific contacts -- all linked devices will get logged out.

I also found that one could inadvertently fill up their linked device limit quickly. Should you use the WhatsApp desktop app and WhatsApp for web on the same computer, WhatsApp will see that as two devices. If you clear your cache on your web browser, and then log in again to WhatsApp on that web browser, it will also come up as a new linked device. It's easy enough to remove linked devices from your settings, but it's worthwhile that some device management could come up faster than you'd expect.

Also for now, smartwatches aren't able to be a linked device, nor is WhatsApp offering an Apple Watch app. I do find it easy enough to use WhatsApp from an Apple Watch by replying to notifications, but you can't start new messages with this method. I'm aware of third-party Apple Watch apps in the App Store that unofficially integrate with WhatsApp, but I would be wary about providing an additional party access to that.

Now can every texting service copy this, please?

As I mentioned before, WhatsApp's version of multidevice isn't particularly new, but there is a lot of room for other texting apps to improve their services in this cross-platform direction. Signal, whose encryption protocol WhatsApp uses, offers multidevice texting through apps on mobile, desktop and iPad, but doesn't currently support a web version for platforms where it doesn't make an app. Signal also doesn't offer cloud backups of your texts, keeping your messages located on the devices themselves. Signal does offer instructions for how to backup and restore messages, with a process that involves directly transferring your texts from phone to phone.

Android's Messages app offers encryption for texts sent over RCS, and it does have a web version -- but that web version relies on syncing directly with a phone similar to how the previous version of WhatsApp works.

Apple's iMessage works seamlessly across MacBooks, iPad tablets, the Apple Watch and the iPhone -- including encrypted texts and partial encryption for backups. The flexibility of moving between these devices has always been a high point of its iMessage service. Still, it's increasingly common for someone to use an iPhone but perhaps own a Windows PC that can't access iMessage. Or a Chromebook. Or an Android tablet. I won't go into an iMessage walled garden rant here, but when other rivals are offering services that meet customers across platforms while maintaining encryption, it becomes increasingly notable when one does not.

Encryption in text messaging apps is particularly pertinent following the European Union recently approving -- but not yet adopting -- the Digital Markets Act, which is partly intended to require leaders in the messaging space like Apple and Meta to allow interoperability. The rules are very new and are aimed at providing a more level playing field for newer services. While well-intentioned, it also creates a situation where tech companies may need to solve how to allow for that interoperability while also preserving its customers' privacy.

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Apple's iMessage Should Improve Texting to Android and Other Phones

Apple's iMessage Should Improve Texting to Android and Other Phones

Apple's iMessage is getting a major overhaul later this year with iOS 16, but most of these new features, like unsending a message or editing a text, will only work if the person you are texting also has an iPhone.

Since Apple has full control over its messaging platform, iPhone owners get a consistent experience that works well regardless of the carrier or specific iPhone model. But it's also inadvertently created a long history of separating people into "blue" and "green" bubbles based on whether they're using an iPhone or Android phone. Apple also relies on the dated MMS standard for non-iMessage group chats, which results in a lack of support for modern features like read receipts and higher-quality images.

While social pressures among those that do and do not show up as a blue bubble have been frequently documented, such as in the Wall Street Journal among teens and young people, the much bigger issue revolves around universal communication. There is no single, modern texting standard that works across all phones. Rich Communication Services, or RCS, is the closest alternative that potentially wouldn't require installing yet another chat app.

While RCS itself is an open standard, the most common way people are using it is within Google's Messages app on Android phones. Google reported at this year's I/O developer conference in May that Google Messages has a half billion monthly active users. The company's investment in both the RCS standard and its Messages app comes after a long history of launchingproprietarytexting apps that did not gain the notoriety of iMessage or Meta's WhatsApp. Google is continuing this proprietary texting strategy alongside its RCS investment, most recently by shutting down its Hangouts app and migrating users into the Google Chat app instead.

RCS supports many iMessage-like features such as typing indicators and read receipts. But its rollout has been fragmented as US phone carriers each separately announced plans to make RCS the default option on most Android phones. While RCS isn't currently interoperable with iOS, Google has built cross-platform message reactions into its texting app to improve how texts from an iPhone appear within Android. Other features that are already in iMessage, such as group chat encryption, are still in development for RCS and Google's Messages app.

The RCS standard is a step forward in making messaging more uniform across the wide variety of Android devices that exist. But without iOS adoption, its impact on the quality of messaging between Android and iPhones remains limited.

As one of the biggest players in the mobile phone industry, Apple could make a bigger effort to establish a more consistent texting experience across devices. But the question is whether doing so is in the company's interest. Apple often touts its control over iOS as a selling point for consumers, and shifting away from iMessage could jeopardize that.

Apple did not respond to CNET's request for comment. When this commentary was originally published, Google pointed CNET to a series of tweets from Hiroshi Lockheimer, its senior vice president for Android. Lockheimer criticizes Apple for using "pressure and bullying" to lock in users in the tweets.

However, there are a few changes Apple could make to address this issue, similar to the way it brought a limited FaceTime experience to Android and Windows users in iOS 15.

Supporting RCS in Apple's Messages app, even a little bit

Apple should consider bringing RCS support to iOS 16. Apple has a history of adopting open formats after they have spent a few years developing, and RCS already includes many iMessage-like features such as typing indicators, enhanced group chats and encryption.

For instance, Apple did not race into the wireless charging space and instead waited for the Qi standard to reach widespread adoption before integrating it into the iPhone 8 and iPhone X in 2017. It even intended to build its own Qi-based AirPower wireless charger, but instead held back until 2020 to sell its own MagSafe wireless chargers.

Apple doesn't even have to give RCS a full endorsement to make a difference. It could keep non-iPhone messages green and lean on iPhone-exclusive features like Memoji, which uses the iPhone's Face ID to create facial animations, to keep Apple loyalists hooked. But supporting a few key features would go a long way in allowing for a smoother communication experience while keeping a degree of Apple exclusivity.

Apple could also support encryption between messages regardless of the platform, especially since the company positions itself as a consumer privacy advocate. One would reason that this alone should be enough for Apple to embrace RCS.

Improve how Apple's Messages app sends and receives SMS

confetti-imessage — Apple's iMessage includes lots of fun animations that are invisible to anyone who isn't using an iPhone in your group chat.
Jason Cipriani/CNET

If supporting RCS is simply not going to happen in iOS, Apple could instead make the most of the limited bandwidth available within SMS and MMS.

Apple is doing this for at least one feature in the iOS 16 public beta. Within group chats that are being handled over MMS, Apple's Messages app will translate reactions so everyone receives an emoji instead of a text about how someone "Liked" or "Loved" a message. Google's Messages app has similar functionality.

Perhaps when photos and videos are sent over MMS, which was never designed for the multi-lens cameras on modern phones, Apple's Messages app could proactively suggest sending an iCloud link instead of a grungy compressed picture. This could work similarly to a feature currently available in Google Photos that allows users to select multiple photos and generate a web link to share with your friends or family members.

And, similar to how Apple recently brought a version of FaceTime to the web for Android and Windows users, maybe it could create a version of iMessage that is viewable on the web. This could benefit its existing iPhone customers who would like to access iMessage from a Windows PC or Chromebook, while also allowing Android phone owners to view messages and other shared content the same way an iPhone user would. This idea would still be annoying for Android users, but it's better than receiving texts out of order during fast-flowing group chats.

Build iMessage for Android

One of the most surprising revelations from last year's Apple v. Epic trial was that Apple had discussed building an iMessage client for Android back in 2013. But Apple executives passed on the idea over concerns about the competition. The possibility of Google buying WhatsApp worried Apple, and the company also feared that bringing iMessage to Android could make it easier for iPhone owners to switch to Google's phone platform, as the WSJ story pointed out.

But much has changed in the years since, including Facebook's purchase of WhatsApp instead of Google. Although Apple has opened up some of its products like FaceTime, it also relies on its services to lock in iPhone customers.

On the other hand, bringing iMessage to Android could instead draw more customers to Apple's iPhone ecosystem. It's a strategy that worked way back in the 2000s, when launching iTunes on Windows considerably increased the customer base for Apple's music store. Sure, it might convince some iPhone customers to jump ship and switch to Android. But it could also help Apple reach a wider audience by exposing Android users to its products and services.

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Apple S Imessage Should Improve Texting To Android And Watch