Meta, the app’s parent company, explained in a statement published on its official blog: “The new experience will help users easily keep up with their conversations without taking their phone out of their pocket.” It added that the watch app allows users to read entire messages, reply to them, interact with them using emojis, in addition to viewing images and stickers in higher quality, and the ability to see a larger part of the chat history while reading.
WhatsApp confirmed that all messages and calls will remain protected by end-to-end encryption, as is the case in the phone app.
The new app requires an Apple Watch Series 4 or later, with watchOS 10 or a later version.
The company indicated that it plans to add more features in the future, meaning that smartwatch users may later get more integrated functions with the main app.
This launch comes after WhatsApp was spotted testing the new app in beta versions, as part of its efforts to expand the scope of the user experience to include devices other than phones. (Al Arabiya)
