WhatsApp Users To Get This Ground-Breaking New Upgrade: Just Perfect Timing – Forbes

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WhatsApp may have been on a tear recently, introducing new features and updates to keep ahead of the pack, but the big one were all waiting for isnt here yet but at least its getting closer. And now we have the first solid indication as to how WhatsApp has cracked the major challenge in making this work. This will spell fantastic news for many of its 2 billion users worldwide.

As Ive reported before, the biggest missing feature with WhatsApp is its pitiful options for multiple device access. Its desktop app is clunkyand thats being kind. Its iPad app non-existent. We all know this is in the works to be fixed. Whats been unclear, though, is how that might be done while maintaining full usability on each and every one of those (up to four) linked devices.

Well, according to the ever-reliable WABetaInfo, WhatsApp has now nailed this. And, if true, thats a genuine ground-breaking achievement for the platform. It will make using WhatsApp seamless, from your phone(s) to your iPad to your desktop. And no more clunky front-end to the message store on your primary phone. This will work even if that main device is not switched on or online.

For iPad owners in particular, who have such great multiple platform options from most leading messengers now, this will be brilliant news. As WABetaInfo reports, WhatsApp has also developed aniPad app, that will be released after the activation of the feature, so you will be able to use WhatsApp on your iPhone and your iPad at the same time.

Why is this so difficult? It all comes down to end-to-end encryption. Clearly, introducing linked devices means that you need to ensure the end-to-end encryption security extends to multiple endpoints on each side of a conversation, whether person-to-person or within groups. Thats challenging but achievable. The issue, though, is that to maintain a full user experience you need to sync the entire message history across each of those devices and keep them aligned. Thats significantly harder.

Now, according to the latest indicationsgathered by WABetaInfo from within code hidden in the new beta releases of WhatsApp, the likelihood is that WhatsApp will use a local connection to transfer the message history from device to device over wifi. This means the whole process can maintain the security of that transferno external cloud service is needed, which would be a vulnerability. No word on when this will be launched, but its closer now than its ever been before.

WhatsApps closest rivalby feature if not install baseSignal, takes a similar approach to transferring an account from an old phone to a new one. But every one of its linked devices is a separate instance, with its message history limited to the time window during which it is linked. The reported WhatsApp approach is a significant step-up from that.

WABetaInfo

If those message historieswhich can be very large, mine is now 11 gigabytes, remain syncd, it extends WhatsApps famed usability into this new dimension. And while this is undoubtedly less locked down than the Signal approach, it will be perfect for almost all users. It will also be perfectly timedwith Signal and Telegram, both of which currently outdo WhatsApp on the multiple device front, fast making up ground.

There is an interesting twist behind the scenes here. The other (in my view) serious update coming from WhatsApp is to extend end-to-end encryption to cloud backups. Right now, when you backup chats to Googles or Apples cloud, you only have the protection of their encryption over your backupnot WhatsApps end-to-end protection. That means law enforcement or others can access your content with keys held by those platforms. The new update will fix this, extending the same protection from your devices to your backups.

WABetaInfo

This backup update will essentially offload a secure, central repository of your message history and media to an offline cloud service. This could provide the basis for a secure restore or even a secure live sync capabilityalthough an ongoing sync would require that backup to be decrypted and accessed while at rest in the cloud, without compromising security. That is likely a step too far, without full control over the cloud and device software, as is the case with Apples iMessage and iCloud syncing.

From what we know so far, its clear that WhatsApps considerable time spent in perfecting its approach to multiple device linking has encryption at its heart. If, for example, any of the linked devices of one of your contacts changes or if they link a new device, then you will be notified. Much in the same way as you can tell when a contact has new device or WhatsApp install.

And, ultimately, thats the most critical thing here. Other messengersincluding, of course, WhatsApps stablemate Facebook Messenger, have nailed multiple device access, but without the security we trust WhatsApp to provide. As much as we want this new functionality, we need it deployed without risking our data security and privacy. Hopefully this latest news shows that we will soon get what we both want and need.

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WhatsApp Users To Get This Ground-Breaking New Upgrade: Just Perfect Timing - Forbes