Over two years after WhatsApp landed on Wear OS smartwatches, it has finally made its way to the Apple Watch. This means your Apple Watch isn’t just limited to WhatsApp notifications, allowing you to see and respond to messages on your wrist, reducing the need to grab your iPhone every time there is a new WhatsApp notification. The Apple Watch app launch comes just weeks after WhatsApp added in-app translation for 19 languages on iPhone. All of these new Apple-specific developments seem to be part of WhatsApp’s master plan to get iMessage users to make the switch.
While the WhatsApp app on Apple Watch isn’t as feature-rich as the mobile or desktop version, it still has many of the essentials. As we noted in our first look of WhatsApp for Apple Watch, beyond sending and receiving messages, the app supports message reactions, voice messages, photos, stickers, and notifications. You can also get call notifications on your watch, see who’s calling, and decline the call if needed. Moreover, you can see your chat history.
Unfortunately, there is currently no way to make or answer calls, and basically any type of message other than text, photo, and voice messages is not supported. That said, WhatsApp notes that this is just a start for the Apple Watch version, and it’ll continue to improve the app based on user feedback.
Which Apple Watch models support WhatsApp?
WhatsApp appears to be intent on supporting as Apple Watch models as possible. The app can be installed on any Apple Watch since the Series 4, including the Apple Watch SE and SE 2, provided your smartwatch is running watchOS 10 or newer. This means only the original Apple Watch, Series 1, Series 2, and Series 3 are not supported, and it’s not surprising, given each of the models is over eight years old and is no longer receiving software updates from Apple.
To ensure seamless communication between WhatsApp on your phone and the Apple Watch, you’ll also need iOS 9.1 or a newer version on your iPhone as well as the latest version of WhatsApp for iOS. If you’re already running the latest version of WhatsApp on your iPhone and have “Automatic Downloads” turned on in Apple Watch settings, the smartwatch version will automatically get installed on your Apple Watch. However, if it doesn’t show up for some reason, you can install it manually using the Watch app on your iPhone.
