WhatsApp to soon get Link with Phone Number feature: What that means for users

Meta-owned WhatsApp has had a busy year so far. The company recently rolled out a new Chat History Transfer feature that will make it easier for users to transfer their chat history while switching devices without requiring a cloud connection such as iCloud or Google Drive. Now, word is that the company is working on another feature that will make it easier for users to connect their WhatsApp accounts with WhatsApp Web. Also Read: Instagram Launches Limited-Edition Diwali Filters: Here’s How To Use Them

The company is rolling out a new feature dubbed as ‘link with phone number’ for its Android beta users. This new feature will allow users to link their account to WhatsApp Web by using their phone number. According to a report by WABetaInfo, the blog that actively tracks developments in WhatsApp, with this feature, users will be able to link their accounts to WhatsApp Web without scanning the QR Code. Also Read: Meta AI Adds UPI Lite, Hindi Support, and Deepika Padukone’s Voice to Ray-Ban Glasses in India

For the unversed, as of now when users need to access their account via WhatsApp WhatsApp, they need to scan the QR code on WhatsApp Web using their mobile apps. The feature in development changes that. Also Read: Meta Wants Employees To Build The Metaverse 5X Faster Using AI

As per the report, instead of using a QR code, this new method uses a one-time password (OTP) generated by WhatsApp Web to link a device using their primary account phone number. To use the feature, open the WhatsApp Web on the desktop and select the new “Link with phone number” option, which appears at the bottom of the page that shows the QR code. After that, users need to enter the phone number. Thereafter users will be prompted with an eight-character pin that they need to enter.

As mentioned before, this new feature is currently available to some beta testers that install the latest WhatsApp beta for Android update and is expected to be rolled out to more users over the coming days.

Besides this feature, WhatsApp is also working on a Filter Chat List feature that will enable users to filter out their chats on the messaging platform based on certain parameters such as Unread, Personal and Business. This feature too is being developed for WhatsApp’s Android beta app and there is no word on when it will arrive in the app.

Meanwhile, last month, it was reported that the messaging platform was rolling out a new feature on Android beta, which allows users to send high-quality videos. While this feature preserves video dimensions, minor compression will still be applied to the video, thus sending videos in their original quality is not possible.