While there have been reports of WhatsApp launching its own iPad app for several years now, there is no official WhatsApp app for iPadOS yet. However, there is a workaround for using WhatsApp on iPad.
In this article, we will guide you on how to install and use WhatsApp on iPad so you can stay in touch with your friends and family on the big screen.
Before you begin: You must activate WhatsApp on an iPhone or Android phone as you cannot register a new WhatsApp account on an iPad.
How to set up and use WhatsApp on iPad
1) Open Safari on your iPad and visit web.whatsapp.com.
2) You will see a QR code that you need to scan with your smartphone:
- If you have an iPhone: Open the WhatsApp or WA Business app and go to its Settings > Linked Devices > Link Device > enter your iPhone passcode.
- If you have an Android phone: open the WhatsApp or WA Business app > tap the three dots icon in the top right corner > Linked devices > Link your device > use your device password or biometric authentication to open the scanner.
3) Scan the QR code you see on the screen of your iPad.
Your WhatsApp app on iPhone and WhatsApp Web on iPad will be linked and you will see all your chats in Safari on iPad. From here you can send and receive messages and files.
Using WhatsApp on iPad
1. Chat: Touch a conversation on the left to select it and enter your message in the Enter Message field. Advice. Pinch the large iPad keyboard with two fingers to make it smaller and fit anywhere.
2. Start a new chat: tap the message icon on the top and select a saved contact. These are not contacts saved in your iPad’s Contacts app, but they are synced from your phone and only show up in this tab of the WhatsApp web browser.
3. See Whatsapp status or stories. Click the circle icon in the top left corner to see the statuses posted by people in your address book.
4. Search for messages. Use the search bar on the top left to find messages from all your chats. Or, press the search button in the current chat to see certain texts only from that person’s conversation.
5. View the person’s profile. Open a chat, tap its name at the top, or tap the three dots icon in the top right corner and select “Contact Information”.
6. Create a group chat. Click the three dots button at the top of the left sidebar and select New Group.
7. Archive, mute, delete the chat, pin, mark as unread or block the chat. Tap the current conversation once or twice on the left side until you see a tiny arrow. Now click this arrow to perform the desired action.
8. Turn on disappearing messages. Open a chat in WhatsApp for iPad, tap the three dots icon, select disappearing messages, and choose a duration. After that, press the back arrow button at the top to return to the chat screen.
9. Delete or forward chat messages. Open a chat > tap the three dots icon in the top right corner > select messages > tap messages > now use the delete icon or the forward arrow icon.
Send voice messages
- Open a chat and click the microphone icon.
- Then allow WhatsApp to access your iPad’s microphone.
- After that, it will automatically start recording. If not, press the microphone button again.
- When the message is recorded, press the green send button.
Download received files
- Click the download button for the received PDF, PPT, Word, etc. files. Then click “Download”if a pop-up appears. If you don’t see the download button, it means the file has already been downloaded.
- Once completed, click the download arrow inside the round icon in the top right corner of Safari.
- Click on the downloaded file, which should open it.
- Now click the Share button and select Save to Files > choose a location > Save.
- Finally, open the Files app to access this downloaded document.
Sending files and more
Open a chat and click on the paperclip icon, which will show several icons arranged vertically. After that, choose an option and follow it.
Create a survey
- Tap the poll icon.
- Fill in the survey details and click the “Submit”button.
Send contacts
- Tap the contacts icon.
- Now select one or more contacts and click the submit button.
Sending PDFs, PPTs, and other documents
- Select the documents icon and select “Select Files”.
- Now select one or more documents and click “Open”.
- Enter an optional message and click the green submit button.
Send photos and videos
- Tap the image icon or camera icon.
- If you choose a camera, be sure to allow it access to your iPad’s camera, then you can take a photo and share it immediately.
- If you’ve selected a photo, you have the option to select files from the Photos app on iPad, the Files app, or use the camera. Most likely, you will select “Photo Library”, which will open the interface of the “Photos”application.
- Touch to select one or more images and click Add.
- Finally, click the green submit button.
Tip: use drag and drop
- Make sure a WhatsApp chat is open in Safari, and then do one of the following:
- Split View: Enter split view with Safari and another app like Files or Photos.
- Slide Over: You can also open another app as a Slide Over window with Safari in the background.
- Now select the file from another app and drop it into the open WhatsApp chat window.
- Finally, click the submit button.
Alternatively, you can also use the normal drag and drop method. This involves dragging a file from the Files or Photos app and then opening Safari with the other hand and dragging the dragged files there.
Add a whatsapp icon to your home screen
- Open WhatsApp Web in Safari on iPad.
- Click the Share button and click Add to Home Screen.
- Edit the name if necessary and click Add.
You will now see the WhatsApp icon on the home screen of your iPad.
Note:
- Every time you click this icon on the home screen, it will open WhatsApp Web and reload/refresh the page.
- For the most part, I recommend clicking the Safari icon on the iPad’s dock or home screen. It should show any new messages; if not, you can always refresh the page.
A few good things about using WhatsApp on iPad
Don’t rely on your phone: once you set up WhatsApp on your iPad, you’ll receive new messages here, even if your phone is turned off or not connected to the internet.
You get almost all the features: Using WhatsApp on the web/iPad doesn’t limit you for the most part. As you can see from the steps above, you can send files, photos, and contacts, create polls, view stories, access starred messages, and more.
Main disadvantages
No Chat Notifications: Apple is still working on allowing notifications in Safari on iPhone and iPad. Thus, you will not receive notifications for new WhatsApp chats on iPad. And because Apple is forcing Chrome, Firefox, and all iOS browsers to use their WebKit engine (the technology that powers Safari), none of those popular browsers can send notifications.
No audio or video calls. You cannot make calls using WhatsApp Web on your iPad.
Re-update: iPadOS may freeze or close an open WhatsApp Web Safari tab to manage RAM. Because of this, you may have to frequently reload WhatsApp in the browser.
Can’t post stories: While you can view the statuses/stories of others, you can’t add your own using the iPad.
Some account settings are missing: You don’t have access to privacy, chat, account, and other WhatsApp settings on your iPad.
Why You Can Still Use WhatsApp on iPad
File Transfer: If you receive WhatsApp files on your Android phone but want to read them conveniently on the iPad’s big screen, you can set up WhatsApp Web on your iPad and access the files there. If you use WhatsApp on iPhone, you can easily transfer them to iPad via AirDrop.
Simplicity: You can lay your iPad horizontally on the stand to make it easier to chat on the iPad’s big screen.
Take a break from your phone: You can turn off your phone for any reason, but you can still use WhatsApp.
Alternatives
iMessage: The Messages app is built into iPadOS and lets you send and receive iMessages. Alternatively, you can also enable SMS support for your iPad’s Messages app.
Third party chat apps. Unlike WhatsApp, most other chat services offer their own well-designed iPad apps. Telegram, Signal, Viber, LINE, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Discord, Microsoft Teams, and Slack are some of the most notable options.
Note. WhatsApp is available for Android tablets.
About third-party WhatsApp apps for iPad
You will see several similar apps when you search “WhatsApp”in the iPad App Store. These are all unofficial applications that use WhatsApp Web inside the shell. We recommend that you refrain from using any of them as there are no real benefits and they may lead to security or privacy issues.