Facebook, the owner of WhatsApp, happens to offer the world’s most popular messaging app. What’s insane is, the company still hasn’t developed a native app for WhatsApp addicts, who are also owners of an Apple Watch. If you have WhatsApp installed on your iPhone, you will still be able to access and reply to your last message received on the app from your connected watch – but that’s about it.
The WhatChat application however – which was not developed by Facebook – allows you to access your message history, reply to all your friends, and send voice messages as well!
Receive WhatsApp messages on your Apple Watch
If you bought an Apple Watch WiFi + cellular with the sole purpose of exchanging messages via WhatsApp on the go, then I grieve for you. The investment may not have been worth it since in order to be able to receive messages that have been sent via the app on your Apple Watch, you will have to be in close proximity to your iPhone.
Make sure that Bluetooth is enabled on your iPhone and your Apple Watch is connected to it. WhatsApp must obviously be installed on your iPhone beforehand with notifications enabled in the iPhone settings.
In order to do this:
- Go to the Settings menu, select WhatsApp and Notifications
- Enable notifications and the three different types of alerts (Sounds, Badges, Show in CarPlay).
- After that, head to the Apple Watch app, access notifications, and enable WhatsApp notifications.
- You can now receive your notifications and read WhatsApp messages from your iPhone on your Apple Watch.
Reply to WhatsApp messages from your Apple Watch
Now that WhatsApp notifications are enabled on your Apple Watch, you can also reply your messages. Just click on the WhatsApp logo to display the name of the person who sent you a message, followed by “Reply”.
WhatChat 2: The 3rd party app that lets you enjoy all WhatsApp benefits on your Apple Watch
Unfortunately, you won’t be able to read archived messages or listen to audio messages with notifications on the Apple Watch. If you want to enjoy all the WhatsApp functions from your Apple Watch itself, you’ll have to use a 3rd party app that is known as WhatChat 2. This app doesn’t collect your private data according to Apple – and Cupertino has authorized it on its App Store.
Here’s how you install WhatChat 2:
- Install WhatChat 2 from the App Store on your iPhone.
- The application will automatically be installed on your Apple Watch (which must remain connected to the iPhone).
- Using your iPhone, scan the QR code that appears on your Apple Watch.
Did you find the above information useful? Which application do you use the most on your Apple Watch?