WhatsApp beta teases much-needed feature for smartwatch owners

Date:
Thu, 01 Sep 2022 11:57:14 +0000

Description:
The latest WhatsApp beta includes support for voice calls on Wear OS 3 smartwatches.

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A new WhatsApp beta release has dropped, and with it comes compatibility with Wear OS 3 smartwatches so if you have the beta installed youll finally get notifications and be able to answer WhatsApp calls using your wearable.

Plus, you wont need to go digging through your settings on your phone or smartwatch; once youve downloaded the update the feature will be turned on automatically.

Interestingly (or unfortunately for those of you who love communicating through your watch) the feature is currently a one-way affair. While you can answer WhatsApp calls and interact with the caller just as you would with any other call on your watch, you cant initiate a call from your wearable; instead, youll have to use the WhatsApp phone app or a different service if you want to get in touch with someone.

As mentioned above, to use the feature you'll need both the latest version of the WhatsApp beta (version 2.22.19.11) and a Wear OS 3 smartwatch. Right now the list of devices is fairly limited, and includes the Samsung Galaxy Watch
4 , the Montblanc Summit 3 , and the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 .

Other watches, like the Fossil Gen 6 and TicWatch Pro 3 , are expected to be updated to WearOS 3 sometime in the near future, and we imagine the upcoming Google Pixel Watch will launch with the OS too. But for now, youre mostly stuck with Samsungs smartwatches.

If you have one of these devices and want to take advantage of the WhatsApp beta release, all you have to do is head over to the official WhatsApp test page on the Google Play store. Right now its showing up as full; you might
get lucky and be able to snag a spot if someone leaves, but we expect it wont be long before the option becomes available in the full WhatsApp release.

Looking for an app you can use today? Check out our picks for the best
Android apps you can download to your Android 13 smartphone.



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/whatsapp-beta-teases-much-needed-feature-for-sm artwatch-owners/


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