WhatsApp Wear OS app rolling out: Users can chat from Android smartwatches

WhatsApp for Android smartwatch, or WhatsApp for Wear OS is finally official and already rolling out. It means if you have an Android watch, you can soon chat without pulling your phone out of your pocket. Beta testers can get their hands on the latest WhatsApp feature at the time of writing this story.

If you cannot see the option to link WhatsApp with your Wear OS watch, you can try updating to the latest version, and enrol the beta program for early access. Here is how WhatsApp for Android smartwatches will look in your watch, and what it will do for you.

WhatsApp for Wear OS features and compatibility

Image: WABetaInfo

Let’s talk about it step-by-step. WhatsApp is already available for Android phones, tablets, Windows PCs and Macs. However, neither Wear OS devices nor the Apple Watch got an official app. However, WABetaInfo reports that Android watch users can start using WhatsApp on Wear OS devices if they are enrolled for beta testing. Here is everything we know about this WhatsApp update.

WhatsApp for Wear OS features

• Wear OS users can send and receive WhatsApp messages on their watches. This includes the Samsung Galaxy Watch lineup, which has some of the best-selling Android smartwatches.
• The chats on the watch app are also end-to-end encrypted, just like the smartphone app.
• You get a quick ‘WhatsApp voice note’ toggle to start recording a voice message from your watch. This is a neat addition since typing on a watch could be inconvenient.
• Only necessary features like recent chats and the settings menu are there on the WhatsApp Wear OS app. You also have an ‘Open on phone’ button to access the same chat on your phone.

WhatsApp Android watch compatibility: When can you try this update?

WhatsApp for Android smartwatches is currently rolling out for beta users. While the feature is most likely to make its way to the stable build, it could be months before we see a global rollout. However, if you have a Wear OS smartwatch, you can try this new WhatsApp feature by becoming a beta tester.

You can click here to enroll for WhatsApp beta on your Android phone. These users get to use many unreleased WhatsApp features, but this has its own set of issues. Beta apps often freeze or crash, so it is safe to have a secondary device if you want to test WhatsApp beta.

While that’s everything we know about WhatsApp on Android smartwatches, an Apple Watch version could be in the works too. Once that rolls out, users will be able to get WhatsApp chats on every device they own. The platform recently rolled out the linked devices feature for up to four phones. The watch app will only make it more accessible to the masses.