This popular messaging app finally hit Apple Watch

If you’re a WhatsApp user with an Apple Watch, your experience using the app is about to improve at last. After years of not having a native Apple Watch app and instead relying on the Apple Watch’s built-in notification system to read and reply to messages, Meta has officially launched a watchOS version of WhatsApp.

Meta announced its new Apple Watch app for WhatsApp in a blog post today, following beta testing in October. The tech giant states that its new Apple Watch app supports “many requested features,” including the ability to see who’s calling you on WhatsApp and view full messages on your wrist without needing to unlock your iPhone.

“Today we are announcing a big upgrade for your wrist — the all-new WhatsApp app for your Apple Watch. This new experience will help you stay on top of your chats without needing to pull out your iPhone,” Meta said in a blog post.

End-to-end encryption

Yes

Calling

Voice and Video Calls

Website

Yes

App

Android and iOS

How to get WhatsApp on your Apple Watch

Not every Apple Watch model is supported

Credit: Meta

Meta’s long-awaited WhatsApp app for the Apple Watch is now rolling out. To use it on your Apple Watch, you’ll need to update the app from the App Store, which will automatically download the Apple Watch version as well.

However, not every Apple Watch is compatible with WhatsApp. Meta states that the app is only supported by the Apple Watch Series 4 or later, and you must have at least watchOS 10 installed on your watch to use it.

That said, once you have the app on your Apple Watch, there are a ton of WhatsApp features you can now use on your wrist that you previously weren’t able to, including the ability to record and send voice messages, react to messages with emojis, see images sent to you on your Apple Watch, and see more of your chat history when reading messages on your watch. Meta says it plans to continue updating the app in the future, with “even more useful functionality.”

Considering the first Apple Watch was released in 2015, I’m a little surprised it took Meta a decade to finally develop an official WhatsApp app for watchOS. But at the same time, it also took Meta a decade to release an Instagram app for the iPad, so I really shouldn’t be surprised. I guess this is the year Meta has finally decided to release apps it has been delaying for years.