WhatsApp to let users message without their phones

At present, WhatsApp is linked to a user's phone. Its desktop and web apps need that device to be connected and receiving messages.

To begin with, the new feature will be rolled out as a beta test for a "small group of users", and the team plans to improve performance and add features before enabling it for everyone.

Several other messaging apps already have such a feature, including rival encrypted app Signal, which requires a phone for sign-up, but not to exchange messages.

In a blog post announcing the move, Facebook engineers said the change needed a "rethink" of WhatsApp's software design.

That is because the current version "uses a smartphone app as the primary device, making the phone the source of truth for all user data and the only device capable of end-to-end encrypting messages for another user [or] initiating calls", the company said.

Our multi-device capability immediately makes the experience better for people who use desktop/web and Portal. And it also will make it possible to add support for more kinds of devices over time.

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