It’s been practically 16 years since WhatsApp first got here to the iPhone. It launched on the App Retailer in August 2009, two years earlier than Apple launched iMessage. Apple unveiled its first iPad in early 2010, however to say that WhatsApp has been sluggish to embrace Apple’s pill could be an understatement.
In actual fact, for a very long time, it seemed like WhatsApp would by no means get a local iPad app. The corporate seemingly had little interest in embracing tablets, and that didn’t change even after it was acquired by Meta (then Fb) in early 2014. In fact, Fb’s iPad app has by no means been nice, however a minimum of it had one.
Whereas that made some sense in an period when it was centered on SMS-like cell messaging — WhatsApp was the primary mainstream app to tie Web-based instantaneous messaging to a person’s telephone quantity — the corporate’s intransigence grew to become extra perplexing when it launched Mac and Home windows apps a number of years in the past.
Whereas WhatsApp customers might run the iPhone app on their iPad, that was lower than very best, and customers stored clamoring for the corporate to launch a local iPad expertise.
The excellent news is that WhatsApp has heard everybody’s cries. WhatsApp for iPad has formally arrived, and after a 15-year wait, we will safely say that it is a very well-deserved “lastly.”
To be honest, we form of knew it was coming when WhatsApp for iPad went into TestFlight beta in late 2023. A minimum of, that received folks’s hopes up. Sadly, after nicely over a yr in beta, many went again to questioning if WhatsApp was simply messing with our heads. The excellent news is that whereas the beta cycle took for much longer than anybody anticipated, it wasn’t a bluff. The corporate enthusiastically introduced the brand new model of WhatsApp as we speak with a submit on Threads.
As you would possibly count on, WhatsApp for iPad isn’t a separate obtain however a common app that bakes native iPad help into the iPhone and Mac obtain. You’ll be able to seize it on the App Retailer free of charge, however of us who’ve been working the iPhone model on their iPad ought to ultimately get it as an computerized replace — and lots of could also be in for a nice shock when it instantly morphs from the ugly tailored iPhone model into a correct iPad app.
As with WhatsApp for Mac and Home windows, you’ll have to hyperlink the iPad app up with WhatsApp in your iPhone, because it nonetheless depends on SMS activation by means of the iPhone app. This additionally means it’s not a standalone app — you will need to arrange WhatsApp in your iPhone to make use of it, so it really works as a companion to that — and it’ll rely as one of many 4 gadgets you possibly can hyperlink to your WhatsApp account.
The excellent news is that WhatsApp has achieved job of embracing the iPad. The corporate didn’t simply scale up and recompile WhatsApp to run on the iPad; it additionally takes benefit of the bigger canvas to offer a side-by-side two-column structure and helps iPad multitasking options like Cut up View, Slide Over, and even Image-in-Image.
WhatsApp is simply the third iPad app from the Meta household. Whereas Fb and (Fb) Messenger have lengthy been accessible for the iPad, Threads and Instagram stay iPhone-only. Nevertheless, the corporate is rumored to have an iPad model of Instagram within the works.