WhatsApp is a messaging application developed for the phone, but that does not mean that it is not interested in other devices. Over time, the application has finally reached the tablets after being perfectly adapted to computers and any web browser. NOW, WhatsApp takes a giant leap towards smartwatches as a native app. Do you have Wear OS? Well, we are going to teach you how to install messaging on the smartwatch.
With the arrival of WhatsApp for Wear OS, it has become clear how much a prop improves when freestanding: We were able to test the messaging of the watch and the truth is that it works very well. This allows us to forget the mobile when we are under a WiFi network, for example, also leaving the house without the smartphone as long as the Wear OS watch has access to mobile networks.
Still in beta, but fully functional
We installed the WhatsApp app for Wear OS on our Samsung Galaxy Watch4 without too many problems, although the process is not as simple as downloading an APK file and installing it: since the target device is a smartwatch , installing an application there that has not yet been officially distributed makes the process difficult. However, it is not complicated. And that’s for sure: the app is official.
To use WhatsApp independently on the watch, you need Wear Installer for your Android mobile and your Wear OS smartwatch is connected to the same WiFi network as said mobile. Once you meet these two premises, you should download WhatsApp beta from this link to APK Mirror. Download the file to your phone.
Do you have everything ready? Let’s walk through the process of installing the WhatsApp standalone app on your Wear OS smartwatch:
- Go to your watch settings, go to “Connections”, make sure WiFi is on and enter the network you connected to.
- Write down your watch’s IP address. You will need it later.
- Go back to your Wear OS settings and scroll down to “About watch”.
- Go to “Software Information” and tap “Software Version” until “Developer Options” is enabled.
- Go back and enter the new “Developer options”.
- Enable “ADB Debugging”, “Debugging with WiFi”, and finally “Wireless Debugging”.
- Now go to your phone and enter the app you installed, Wear Installer.
- Make sure the IP address is the same as the one you pointed to from the watch and click “Done”.
- Now go to the “Custom APK” tab and choose the file with the beta version of WhatsApp for watches that you downloaded.
- Accept the installation from your watch face and wait for the process to complete.
- Once WhatsApp is installed, go back to developer options on the watch and disable debugging. If you don’t, your smartwatch will spend much more battery.
- Now that everything is ready, it’s time to perform the process synchronized with your account. Open WhatsApp on the smartwatch and follow the steps: you will need to add the device to your account for it to work on its own. The process is similar to that of WhatsApp Web, for example.
Once the application is installed on your watch, you will no longer need your mobile phone to access WhatsApp messages: you can read them from your smartwatch. You can also write new messages and send audios; as long as the conversation has already started, you cannot open new chats. And there is another negative aspect: the consumption of your watch will increase with the active WhatsApp applicationyou have to take that into account.
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