Now that WhatsApp is finally available as a native app for the Apple Watch, Meta is working on a feature that will notify users when their account is connected to the accessory. The company is also working on a better interface for managing conversations, attachments, and storage.
WhatsApp Peripherals
As spotted by WABetaInfo , WhatsApp version 25.37.10.71 in TestFlight has introduced a new category called “ Peripherals ” in the Linked Devices interface . The test comes just weeks after the release of the regular app for the Apple Watch, a change that also opens up new avenues for potential misuse. In abusive relationships, for example, an account could be linked to a partner’s Apple Watch without the user’s knowledge.
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To address these and similar risks, the latest beta version of WhatsApp adds more transparency around connected peripherals. As with other connected devices, “Peripherals” displays the name of the Apple Watch associated with the account, along with the date and time it was last active. However, unlike other connected devices like Mac Web, it is currently impossible to unlink the connected Apple Watch from the iOS app.
Instead, the app simply instructs the user to “Delete WhatsApp from Apple Watch to disconnect.”
WhatsApp Clear chat
Just a few days after releasing TestFlight build 25.37.10.71, Meta has released another build with a new feature designed to simplify chat and storage. As also spotted by WABetaInfo, build 25.37.10.72 introduces “a feature to clear chat storage with options to delete messages or specific media categories.”
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This feature presents a more simplified interface for clearing all messages in a conversation, removing all but flagged messages, or deleting media files, while clearly showing how much storage each category is using.
When selecting “Clear media files…”, users can choose which categories to delete, including documents, photos, videos, stickers, and audio, before confirming their selection. They also have the option to clear all media at once, including marked media.
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There's no estimated release date for either feature, though the Conversation Clearing test follows a similar release in the Android beta, suggesting it could arrive sooner.
