Facebook Announces ‘Life Saving’ Feature On WhatsApp

American social networking service company, Facebook has announced a new ‘life saving’ feature on its WhatsApp messaging platform.

Naija News reports that the company in a post on Wednesday, July 15 announced the launch of a feature that will allow Whatsapp to be used on non-phone devices.

This feature will relieve users of the widely used social networking from becoming worried when their smartphones are out of service or dead due to low battery. Facebook engineers said the new feature would allow the messaging app to be used on multiple “non-phone” devices without needing to connect to the smartphone app.

“With this new capability, you can now use WhatsApp on your phone and up to four other non-phone devices simultaneously – even if your phone battery is dead,” the notification revealed.

Naija News understands that Whatsapp has garnered more than two billion users around the world since its launch in 2009 as a smartphone messaging app, and was subsequently acquired by Facebook.

Though WhatsApp can already be used on “companion devices,” such as computers, exchanges are, however, routed in such a way that if a person’s smartphone is offline or has zero battery, it won’t work.

Other issues can arise as well, such as frequent disconnection. All this has come with ease as Facebook engineers reveal the latest update.

“The new WhatsApp multi-device architecture removes these hurdles” by no longer requiring a smartphone to perform every operation, the company said.

The new capability will be expanded more broadly as it is refined, Facebook added. It also made assurances that WhatsApp’s security measures will still work under the new system.

“Each companion device will connect to your WhatsApp independently while maintaining the same level of privacy and security through end-to-end encryption that people who use WhatsApp have come to expect.”

Meanwhile, the Federal Government has earmarked N4.8 billion for the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to monitor an encrypted messaging application, WhatsApp, and a satellite telephone, Thuraya.

Naija News reports that the provision is contained in the supplementary 2021 budget passed by the National Assembly.